Number 57  Winter 2018 4408 Market St., Ste. A, Oakland, CA 94608

Empowering our Captive Audience and Communities For Over Twenty Five Years

LEARN THE TRUTH Unlike in the streets, The Origins cell phone cameras cannot be relied on of to expose brutality in California . How Southern whites found replacements for Hear directly from the voices that California Department their emancipated slaves in the prison system. of does NOT want you to hear. By Shane Bauer Letters and articles of imprisoned or formerly imprisoned Published on October 2, 2018 at https://slate.com/news-and- * community members are denoted with an asterisk. politics/2018/10/origin-prison-slavery-shane-bauer-american-

* prison-excerpt.html n August, an organization called the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee announced that in at least *Pelican Bay Prisoners' Statement I17 states had pledged to stage a strike to protest prison conditions. It is unclear how many inmates actually took part in the 19-day strike, on 3rd Anniversary of Ashker but organizers said “thousands“ refused to work, staged sit-ins, and turned away Settlement meals to demand “an immediate end to prison slavery.” Nationwide, inmates’ Posted by Center for Constitutional Rights on October 15, 2018 labor is essential to running prisons. They cook, clean, do laundry, cut hair, at https://ccrjustice.org/home/blog/2018/10/15/pelican-bay-prisoners-statement-3rd-anniversary- and fulfill numerous administrative tasks for cents on the dollar, if anything, settlement in hourly pay. Prisoners have been used to package Starbucks coffee and make unday marked the third anniversary of the landmark settlement agreement in Ashker v. California, lingerie. In California, inmates volunteer to fight the state’s wildfires for just $1 the class action lawsuit that ended indefinite in California prisons. We have an hour plus $2 per day. Saccomplished a lot in that time. Over 1600 prisoners who were looking at spending the rest of their The link between prison labor and slavery is not merely rhetorical. At the end lives in isolation have been released from Security Housing Units. Living conditions have improved for of the Civil War, the 13th amendment abolished slavery “except as a many prisoners. And prisoners who were prevented from seeking parole because they were isolated in SHU for a .” This opened the door for more than a century of forced labor that was have some prospect for release. in many ways identical to, and in some ways worse than, slavery. The following Most importantly, prisoners have continued to honor the historic 2012 Agreement to End Hostilities, is an excerpt from my new book, American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover working to resolve issues peacefully and prevent individual conflict from escalating into group conflict. Journey Into the Business of Punishment. The book details my time working Through this, we have dramatically reduced violence throughout California prisons and been able to undercover as a prison guard in a for-profit prison in Louisiana. It also traces harness our collective power to unite against our true opponent: a prison system that would rather punish the ways in which our prison system evolved out of the attempt of Southern and than rehabilitate. businessmen to keep slavery alive. However, much work remains. While culture has changed, CDCR culture has not. The California A few years after the Civil War ended, Samuel Lawrence James bought a prison system continues to obstruct meaningful reforms, to attempt to provoke violence by a variety of plantation on a sleepy bend of the Mississippi River in Louisiana’s West tactics such as integrating SNY informants into the GP, and to entrap individual prisoners. It continues to Feliciana Parish. It was known as Angola, named for the country of origin of violate our due process rights and resist systemic change. many of the people who were once enslaved there. Before the war, it produced Many prisoners released from SHU have been transferred into Level 4 prisons, which are essentially 3,100 bales of cotton a year, an amount few Southern plantations could rival. For modified SHUs. While called “general population,” prisoners in these units often receive as little out-of-cell most planters, those days seemed to be over. Without slaves, it was impossible to time as they did in the SHU, are denied jobs, and have little to no vocational and other programming. To reach those levels of production. honor the settlement, we need to live in true general population housing units that provide adequate social interaction, outdoor time, programming, work opportunities, and preparation for release. The link between prison labor and slavery is not Additionally, CDCR has done nothing to help us deal with the aftermath of years, and even decades, in merely rhetorical. At the end of the Civil War, the solitary confinement. As the report by the Stanford University Human Rights in Trauma Mental Health Lab 13th amendment abolished slavery “except as a documents, the torture of solitary confinement does not end when the cell doors open. Many of us are still punishment for a crime.” suffering terribly. Some of us have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We can never get back the relationships with parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, spouses, kids, and other loved ones damaged by our years in But James was optimistic. Slavery may have been gone, but something like it isolation. We need rehabilitation and reparations. To begin to make us whole, CDCR must help us heal. was already beginning to come back in other states. While antebellum convicts Finally, CDCR continues to throw people back in the hole. It is relying on confidential information were mostly white, 7 out of 10 prisoners were now black. In Mississippi, regardless of whether the informant is credible or reliable. It even fabricates information and falsifies “Cotton King” Edmund Richardson convinced the state to lease him its convicts. documents. Prisoners continue to be denied fair hearings, and then are thrown back into solitary. This He wanted to rebuild the cotton empire he’d lost during the war, and, with its behavior is systemic throughout CDCR, from top to bottom. To honor the settlement agreement, we need penitentiary burned to ashes, the state needed somewhere to send its prisoners. independent oversight of CDCR’s disciplinary system and individual accountability for CDCR employees The state agreed to pay him $18,000 per year for their maintenance, and he who their power. could keep the profits derived from their labor. With the help of convict labor, In a recent ruling, Judge Claudia Wilken has recognized that the settlement requires that reforms be he would become the most powerful cotton planter in the world, producing more meaningful, including that CDCR cannot simply shuffle people to “general population” units that function than 12,000 bales on 50 plantations per year. Georgia, whose penitentiary had like SHUs. And we are requesting an extension of the period of monitoring to ensure that CDCR complies been destroyed by Gen. Sherman, was leasing its convicts to a railroad builder. with the spirit and purpose of the settlement. Alabama had leased its convicts to a dummy firm that sublet them for forced Finally, we must continue to stick together, to honor the Agreement to End Hostilities, and to fight our labor in mines and railroad-construction camps throughout the state. true opponent: CDCR’s . Our accomplishments thus far have come about because of our collective There was no reason Louisiana couldn’t take the same path. Black Americans power. Collective power is how we will achieve the goals ahead of us.● were flooding the penitentiary system, mostly on larceny convictions. In 1868, the state had appropriated three times as much money to run the penitentiary as it had the previous year. It was the perfect time to make a deal, but someone * Plight of the People beat James to it. A company called Huger and Jones won a lease for all of the Dear Prison Focus and Advocate Supporters, state prisoners. Barely had the ink dried on the contract before James bought watched and listened to Kanye [West] as he spoke at the White House and I am baffled by the them out for a staggering $100,000 (about $1.7 million in 2018 dollars). James soliloquy Kanye gave and I am attempting to understand what form of is being worked out a 21‑year lease with the state, in which he would pay $5,000 the advocated for. first year, $6,000 the second, and so on up to $25,000 for the 21st yearin I exchange for the use of all Louisiana convicts. All profits earned would be his. I am someone who is really being impacted by the criminal system and I fight daily for my freedom and for the chance to someday be back home with my family and loved ones. I express He immediately purchased hundreds of thousands of dollars of machinery to this with the hope that you and Kanye fully and truly understand that it is not a game. My fight for turn the state penitentiary into a three‑story factory. One newspaper called it freedom, prison reform and reform is a serious issue affecting hundreds of thousands, “the heaviest lot of machinery ever brought in the state.” The prison became if not millions of African American men and women who are stuck in prison with no readily available capable of producing 10,000 yards of cotton cloth, 350 molasses barrels, and resources for relief. So I appeal to you to inform yourself about the issues and the plight of the people 50,000 bricks per day. It would also produce 6,000 pairs of shoes per week with who are being affected by these draconian laws... the “most complete shoe machinery ever set up south of Ohio.” The factory was ...I ask you to put your heartfelt thoughts and efforts to good use that can possibly help not one or so large that the Daily Advocate argued it would stimulate Louisiana’s economy two of us, but many..I humbly ask you to lend your voice and to lobby our state representatives to enact by increasing demand for cotton, wool, lumber, and other raw materials. comprehensive prison reform, state and federal. You have a huge platform from which to launch. Use In 1873, a joint committee of senators and representatives inspected the it wisely, and thank you for caring. Sincerely, Barry Woods Louisiana State Penitentiary and found it nearly deserted: “The looms that used to be worked all day and all night, are now silent as the tomb.” The warden Join CPF's efforts to Liberate The Caged Voices (See pg. 23) The Origins of Slavery...... Continued on page 12

* THE STRUGGLE WE HAVE * Blue Suit WITH PERSONAL CHOICES By Ruben Rivera POETRY My weekend was a visit to prison By Watani Stiner t’s hard to live in a whorehouse and not become a trick. If Then Dad would appear In his blue suit you stay inside that house long enough, day in and day out, I Smile what might originally have been offensive or immoral or * Chino flaps, shaved head I "To Elder Watani Stiner. Veteran of the Struggle Everyone looked the same unethical to you starts to seem normal. Eventually you might and Revolutionary King. Asante sana!" find yourself checking your watch and counting your money too. V.I – Was scratchin the block with flakes, I had dandruff\ I was young and this moment The same goes for living as a prisoner. It’s hard to live in ever been fraud or fake, I just man up\ Brought joy to my life a prison and not be influenced by prevailing attitudes and Spoken word, I touch souls and heal wounds\ Building castles with dominos behaviors contained in such a rigidly regulated and oppressive Inflicted wounds, traded that life to spill tunes\ Stuffing my mouth with vending machine candy N Our small family finally together. environment. It’s difficult to have the moral courage to stand Hard times, never submitted to the minus\ on principles, resist peer pressure, and maneuver around prison Sum’s in my mind kept me feet above the mindless\ politics. For example, it's difficult for prisoners to demand Cowards livin spineless, want my life but can’t find it\ As the visit ended human treatment or proclaim solidarity with those held in Watchin my every stride, I let em hate cause I don’t mind it\ It was time to go – solitary confinement without fear of administrative retribution. I’m just tryna spread a couple smiles in the hood\ I didn’t understand why? Malcolm X (Al Hajj Malik Shabazz) and Nelson Mandela— Grew up a ghetto boy, I’m showin up just like I should\ Dad couldn’t come home two of the most iconic prisoners of our time—were able to turn You get what you put in, so be careful with your investments\ their negative situations into something positive. Despite their And if you live in sin, be careful with your selections\ Tears of sadness streamed down conditions, Malcolm and Mandela cultivated self-motivation, Reflections of my past makes me thankful for the present\ My face, rearranged their priorities, elevated their consciousness, Reminiscin bout my dad, I’m so thankful he was present\ As we left the fun filled place. and became committed warriors of social justice. This is an So I gotta be present, and help my youngins maturation\ example we also can follow. Got registered late, but I made it to graduation\ Then I thought to myself Malcolm X, self-proclaimed pimp and street-hustler, [Chorus] At least Dad won’t be alone, sentenced to prison, decided to challenge and change those feel – like goin on \ I’m tryin – to find my way home\ He’ll be in there surrounded self-destructive views and values defined by his past. He Every hour, and every minute \ I think about the struggle I lived By his friends the clones. didn’t like what he saw in himself, society and world. Thus he I And survived – and I smile \ I smile, I smile, I smile\ decided to question the status quo and change the man he was. I think about the struggle I lived and survived, and I smile\ --- He challenged himself to study, discover and teach the truth V.2 – I got some homies in prison that’s never comin home\ *Whispers From Chowchilla and meaning of his experiences. They livin through me, so through my vision, they’ll have a song\ And Nelson Mandela, despite his capture, political By Cara Cameron, 2014 Can’t let em lock your mind away, your soul lives on\ prosecution, and years of isolation at notorious Robben Island, hispers from Chowchilla’s 503 Keep the realness connected everytime you phone home\ refused to give up, give in and give out. Finally, Mandela Reception kennel, one building over So many babies pushin babies with no father figures\ negotiated his release and became the first Black president of a from , on a hot summer night.... Chasin after these fools cause they skate on larger figures\ W democratic South Africa. He once triumphantly remarked, “In I’ve never been so lonely in my entire life. My Don’t reject your reflection, learn to know your self worth\ my country, we go to prison first and then become president!” heart physically hurts and the ache drips down Why give your love away if you don’t love yourself first?\ This is certainly not an “OG” argument for more prisons, into the pit of my stomach and bubbles up into my People ignorant to the struggle that our people lived\ nor is it suggesting that Malcolm and Mandela believed that throat. It’s about everything. My situation. Their They shed tears and bled blood so that we could live\ prison is the ideal place for obtaining a good education or situation. Human Nature. That human nature is Brainwashed, under control of triple K’s\ building moral character. Rather, this is a quest for prisoners to always painful and disgusting with few exceptions. Blindfolded and brain’s frozed in simple ways\ understand how these two determined men, sentenced to prison That I am somehow vulnerable to those strangers I shed Thug tears for the struggle in the ghetto\ for completely different reasons, overcame and transcended around me because, …. Because I don’t know why. My love’s real, and I promise I will never let go\ their surroundings. Because despite my best efforts, I need human We gotta hold each other up and forever and never fall under\ Malcolm X once wrote, “In the hectic pace of the world contact. Enlighten our minds up and smile through the thunder\ today, there is no time for meditation or for deep thought. A Goddamnit I need to suck it up. The emotions [Chorus] prisoner has the time he can put to good use. I’d put prison in here! The finality of it all. The high drama of xpressin myself through these instrumentals that I blaze\ second to college as a best place for a man to go if he needs to everything from holding hands to going to Catholic I got so much on my mental, I’m caught up in a maze\ do some thinking…If he’s motivated, in prison he can change service. Accept a peanut butter & jelly sandwich But I never cave, I just pour me a cup of Hennessy\ his life.” E and all of a sudden you’re claimed. Get skipped Stay full of energy, muzzlin all my enemies\ Mandela also wrote, “Prison itself is a tremendous education over for mail and suddenly you are alone in the But I’m not lookin for enemies, all I want is peace\ in the need for patience and perseverance. It is above all a test world. A shoulder bump without an “excuse me” See we can have a steak if we can learn to cut the beef\ of one’s commitment.” becomes a vendetta. The expression of an irritance Hatred aint nothin but a created emotion\ Malcolm and Mandela didn’t allow prison to defeat them but becomes talking shit becomes beatings with cops You cremate that emotion, you can motor life’s ocean\ to motivate them. They channeled their time and energy into and locks and added charges and lives ruined and No matter your pigmentation or your affiliation\ something educational and beneficial. We all know that prison a continued cycle of pain. I don’t understand how With unification, we can create a better nation\ is essentially a form of institutional violence and not a very this system can keep going. Get me out of here. I’m Mobilization can march us into our destination\ humanizing place to be. But even though prison is bad, how can sorry. I repent. Come and get me. With proper preparation, we aint gotta ask for Nathan\ it be used as a critically transforming place for Learn to love what you got, no matter what it’s worth\ and good? How can prisoners become socially conscious and Don’t worry bout what they got, they probably got it worse\ committed participants in their personal liberation? Invest in yourself, properly you can rest in wealth\ Both Malcolm and Mandela assumed their generational responsibility by passing the “historical baton” to the younger * Donkey of the Day generation. It is important to understand that the historical By James Mason baton is not something you just pass on for the sake of passing olitary cells is like an Emergency Room So I’m patiently waiting it on. There’s a legacy behind it. The legacy is concrete. It’s not I.C.U through video visitations, accentuated conversations just about stories told. It’s the heart and soul of one generation Superlatives, with relatives and my peers sentenced to light years giving strength to the next generation--real strength, strength S But still we become mentally ill between direct appeal so we pop pills that makes the difference between surviving and thriving. Shed so many tears but my 3rd eye can see dead presidents Moreover, at the heart of this process called human history, Amerikkka gets Donkey of the Day for I.C.E.- assaulting Mexicans there’s an obligation for each generation to learn from the Basically, they’re hating on the Haitain’s Liberation campaign previous, incorporate their own experiences, and be responsible My Motherland is screaming “Me Too” for what yall did back in the days! for passing the baton on to the next. Notice of Inquiries to our Higher Power asking Why Me? In order for generations to flow towards the future in health It seems like Dr. King’s speech has manifested into an addicts pipe dream and wisdom in this process, there needs to be a clear space Florida is listed as the 3rd largest state building up prisons for this essential transmission from one generation to the next. Iron sharpens iron like a shank on barbwired fences That space is necessary and needs to be created and utilized and Handcuffs on our wrists is ubiquitous like the Messiah protected. Without that space, in some form of communication They don’t give a fuck about black indicatives, inter alia or dialogue, there can be a malnutrition of spirit in the You use patriotism to protect your upcoming generation. It is critical for both the younger and How many of my ancestors was left hanging like a neck-a-lace? older generations to name and remember what is important and Artificial Intelligence cannot imitate Colin Kaepernick Freedom Hangs Out on the Corner of Truth and Knowledge.... By David Perryman meaningful and not to be subject to circumstances or conditions Our future is like a thus I present evidence that would make them believe about themselves or weaken A Long Ride up the road especially when you’re all alone. the ties for family, identity, and community. So, whether we’re talking about societies, whorehouses, Something That Isn’t What We Want; prisons or “hoods,” we are not compelled to submit or * surrender to the dictates of those conditions. Choices arise and By Juan Rodriguez G or Not, Killer or Square are presented to us in a given context. And that context can he problem with loneliness is that, unlike other forms of human suffering, it teaches us nothing, leads us nowhere either impede or inspire human possibility. But ultimately, it is and generally the values of us in our eyes and eyes of others. It lies upon the soul lightly or heavily, depending up to us whether we choose to surrender to our circumstances on one’s age and one’s luck and swiftly transforms the heartiest of souls into a living ashe of spiritual doubt and or struggle to overcome them. It is up to us to decide if we want T despair. It is impervious to medicine, common sense, wisdom, humor, hope or pride. It simply comes, sits in the center of to be tricks or to be free. ● the heart where it could not be known what loneliness was until I lost myself and then everyone else. Truly, me.

2 PRISON FOCUS A New Beginning California Prison Focus has a new home!! We are Prison Focus greatful to have been warmly welcomed into the aptly named Freedom and Movement Center, - home of our Issue No. 57 FALL 2018 friends and allies, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, All of Us or None and California Coalition of Women Prisoners. With rents sky rocketing in the Bay Contents Area, we are happy to know that we are safe in our new home and couldn't ask for better landlords or neighbors!! in this issue Aside from our own general sustainability, we are Pelican Bay Prisoners' Statement on 3rd Anniversary of Ashker Settlement...... 1 excited to be launching into a new chapter of our 27 Plight of the People...... 1 year existance, with amazing, fresh opportunities for collaboration. New doors are opening all around us, and The Origins of Prison Slavery...... 1 these new opportunities to strengthen our partnerships The Struggle We Have With Personal Choices...... 2 with our allies reflect our fundamental values here at CPF. Our recent move will boost our growing community and California Prisoners Seek to Enforce Settlement Provisions in Ashker Litigation...... 3 movement building efforts. So thank you LSPC for your The Manufactured Creation of Monsters: Using Sol. Con. as a Weapon Against Amerikan Prisoners...... 4 generous invitation to join you, AOUON and CCWP as we move forward together in our unwaivering committment The New Prison Abolition Movement ...... 4 to end the atrocities of modern day prison slavery. 'No Longer Human'...... 4 PLEASE NOTE OUR CHANGE OF ADDRESS: 4408 Market St., Ste. A., Oakland, CA 94608 The Monell Action...... 7 New Pennsylvania DOC Policies...... 13 SUBMISSIONS WELCOMED!! Keeping the Spirit of The Prison Labor Strike Alive ...... 14 CPF would like to make sure that Prison Focus is a platform for all voices to be heard. If you are of a group The Toll of Activism...... 15 that does not seem to be well represented in this paper, Retaliation and Resistance Behind Bars...... 15 we invite you to submit a letter or article for future issues, and/or invite others to do so. Though we cannot include Continuing Resistance...... 16 every article and letter we receive, we do our best to make Struggles of Using Legal Recourse as a Path Toward Better Prison Conditions...... 18 sure that nobody's voice is left out. Hearing each other is key to solidarity-building, and to breaking down prison Legal Research...... 19 walls and all other representations of hate. So we want to Finally some relief for nonviolent third strikers!!...... 19 hear from all of you!! Statement from Protesting Inmates at Burnside Jail, Nova Scotia...... 16 Your letter or article is more likely to be published in its entirety if we can read it and if it is about 500 words. Communti All 5000! Drop LWOP...... 16 Longer letters and articles are accepted but as with all submissions we cannot guarantee inclusion. regular features Please be clear if you would like us to or NOT to Poetry...... 2 publish your writing in Prison Focus, or if we can use it for our Liberate the Caged Voices campaign, but NOT Letters from Inside (More Voices)...... 6 publish it in the paper. Lastly, be clear on if you want us to Legislative Update ...... 17 include your name. CPF always errs on the side of caution The Agreement To End Hostilities...... 22 and if we have any doubt at all regarding your safety, we will make it anonymous. Please read our confidentiality Liberate the Caged Voices (Message from Nube) ...... 23 statement on the back page. And a message to our outside readers: imprisoned contributors Editor-In-Chief: Kim Pollak You too are invited to join the dialogue by submitting Eric Clemmons CPF Contributors Associate Editor: Watani Stiner letters or articles to PF. Because PF is more than just James Mason Nube Brown a newspaper, it is a bridge connecting those of us with Kevin “Rashid “ Johnson OUTSIDE CONTRIBUTORS Cara Cameron shared goals of a more equal and just society. Arthur G. Jones, Sr. Joe Andrews CONTRIBUTing Organizations Daylan Johnson Marisa Endicott Shane Bauer California Coalition of Women Prisoners The opinions expressed in the letters and articles in Prison * Kamau Jones Mike Lee Lisa Drapkin Center for Constitutional Rights Focus do not necessarily reflect the positions of CPF. Khalfani Malik Khaldun Kim Pollak James Kilgore Jailhouse Lawyers Speak (via Amani Sawari) David Perryman Amani Sawari Erin Ruben National Lawyers Guild Ruben Rivera Watani Stiner Prison Focus Subscriptions Juan Rodriguez ThinkProgress ubscribe to Prison Focus (PF) and receive four Michael Douglas Taylor SHOUT OUT to ALL Prison Focus Truthout issues. PF is published approximately every four Barry Woods contributors; published or not. Nonprofit Quarterly Smonths. Subscriptions are $20 for non-prisoners, Thank you! Socialist Worker $8 for prisoners and free to those in California SHU and Adminstrative Segregation. (If you are in Ad.-Seg. and are receiving the paper free of cost, please confirm your California Prisoners Seek to Enforce Settlement address between nissues.) Provisions in Ashker Litigation If you have not paid for an annual subscription, are not by Kevin Bliss in California SHU or Ad-Seg, and want to be sure that CPF Published by Prison Legal News. Posted on November 6, 2018 at www.prisonlegalnews.org and PF will be around for years to come see this paper n March 29, 2018, a federal magistrate judge in California held that prisoners in a class-action lawsuit over long-term thrive for years to come, but have received one or more solitary confinement, who entered into a settlement agreement with the California Department of Corrections and free issues of PF, please do your part and send payment ORehabilitation (CDCR), had not proven a material breach of the agreement. That decision was subsequently overruled (checks or stamps) to CPF at our new address. in part by the district court. Folks inside, many of whom have little to no funds at CDCR prisoners held in Secure Housing Units (SHUs) stay on lockdown 23 hours a day and have limited programming all - and many of whom work yet make as little as $.00 opportunities or privileges. A large number of those prisoners have remained in SHUs for years or even decades due to alleged an hour - can scrape up $8 a year for a subscription of gang affiliations. Prison Focus. We hope you will too, so we can continue to On behalf of a class of prisoners in administrative SHU, California state prisoner Todd Ashker and other plaintiffs entered provide the paper to those who have few other resources. into a September 2015 settlement with the CDCR that included a requirement that all class members eligible for release under We are 90% funded by individual donations. Please the agreement would be transferred to a “General Population level IV 180-design facility, or other general population institution support this important paper and join the dialogue! consistent with [their] case factors.” [See: PLN, Nov. 2016, p.1; Oct. 2014, p.30]. Donations can be made and subscriptions requested via The CDCR transferred over 200 SHU prisoners to other facilities, where in some cases conditions were no better than in our website at www.prisons.org or sent to us directly at segregation units. Many class members asserted they did not receive even one hour a day of out-of-cell time, did not receive the our new address. agreed programming, and actually lived in more punitive and isolated circumstances than before. The prisoners filed a motion for THANK YOU EVERYBODY - inside and out - FOR enforcement, arguing the CDCR had violated the spirit of the settlement agreement; they relied on surveys from class members and expert declarations as evidence. YOUR SUPPORT!! The CDCR countered that the surveys were unreliable, that only 55 surveys had been answered out of 205 sent – skewing the results – and that the plaintiffs’ experts did not conduct a separate investigation to verify the survey data. The magistrate judge over the case held the prisoners had incorrectly relied upon their interpretation of “General Population Level IV 180-design facilities,” which was not otherwise defined in the settlement. IMPORTANT NOTE to our readers inside: Please be “Not only does the Settlement Agreement not specify details as to the conditions of confinement for class members transferred aware that, unfortunately, CPF does not currently have to a General Population level IV 180-design facility, it provides no requirements regarding the conditions of such a facility a sponsoring attorney. If you send Legal Confidential as compared with general population facilities nation-wide, or as compared with other inmates in the CDCR systems,” the mail to us, it may be opened by CDCr staff. We will let magistrate judge wrote. you know if and when that changes. Accordingly, the prisoners’ motion for enforcement of the settlement was denied. They sought de novo review by the district court, and on July 3, 2018 the court granted their motion “to the extent that Plaintiffs must receive more out-of-cell time than they http://www.prisons.org received in the Pelican Bay SHU. They should receive out-of-cell time consistent with the CDCR’s regulations and practices with [email protected] respect to Level IV general population inmates, as well as its constitutional obligations.” The case remains pending. See: Ashker © 2018 California Prison Focus v. Brown, U.S.D.C. (N.D. Cal.), Case No. 4:09-cv-05796-CW. Additional source: www.courthousenews.com ● ISSUE 57 3 Confinement Unit located in Carlisle, Indiana. Their SHU, The New Prison *THE MANUFACTURED or Special Confinement Unit now called the Security Control * CREATION OF MONSTERS Unit (SCU), both 23/24-hour lock-down units over time, ABOLITION Movement USING SOLITARY CONFINEMENT AS A caused a slow mental deterioration to prisoners. Long-Term The continuing struggle to abolish slavery in Amerika WEAPON AGAINST AMERIKAN PRISONERS Solitary Confinement is not a natural environment. That said, prisoners had begun to spiral out of control by throwing By Kevin “Rashid “ Johnson “Prisons are an integral part of Capitalism and human feces from head to toe, even eating it, from being The Rising New Prison Movement functions as a form of racial and class-based Social Across Amerika (home of the world’s largest prison control beyond mere Profit-Making” KMK hungry due to deplorably small food portions being served. Others started into cutting on themselves trying to relieve the population) growing numbers of the imprisoned are coming to By Khalfani Malik Khaldun agony of forced sensory deprivation. realize that they are victims of social injustice. Revolutionary Love to You and Power to the People who Some men gave up, having nothing and no-one to help Foremost, they are victims of an inherently predatory and do not fear Freedom, Justice and Equality. them cope, they committed suicide. These conditions have dysfunctional capitalist-imperialist system, which targets the he Institute of Criminal Policy Research (ICPR), produced insanity, instability and a whole lot of suicides. In poor and people of color for intensified policing, militaristic part of the Birkbeck University of London, has 1994, I was removed from General Population at the Indiana containment, and selective criminal prosecutions while denying Tcollected statistics that indicate approximately three State Prison (ISP), after being singled out by the prisoncrats them access to the basic resources, employment and institutional million people were held in pre-trial/ for the murder of a prison guard, Phillip Curry, a case and control needed for social and economic security. Deprivations, worldwide, as of the end of November 2016, from 216 charge for an offense that I, to this day, diligently declare, I which generate “crime”—economic , crimes of passion, prison systems in independent countries and dependent did not commit. I was sent to the Supermax on December 13, and crimes of attempting to cope (through drug use and territories. The World Prison Population List, reported 1994, where the IDOC would force me to serve 20 collective addictions.) an estimated 10.35 million people were held in ‘holding years in Solitary Confinement. By the Grace of Allah I made Secondly, once imprisoned they become victims of inhumane plantations’ worldwide as of the end of 2015. it through those turbulent years, scathed tremendously by abuses, warehousing, and one of the most decadent and This Global Capitalist mindset has led to the proliferation the experience. I attest that nobody leaves these units the dehumanizing forms of social economic injustice—slavery. of the Supermaxes, Solitary Confinement, and sensory- way they enter them. I’m currently battling severe chronic This rising awareness among the imprisoned has prompted depriving Control Units, to saturate Amerika’s prison depression due to the 20 years of Solitary Confinement that increasing numbers of prisoners to unite in resistance proclaiming systems. These units came into existence as a deterrent was forced on me. “no more!” And the momentum is building. to the rise of gang violence, and prisoners unfortunately The Indiana Civil Liberties Union (ICLU) helped us This “new” prison movement is seeing growing waves of taking out their frustrations on those closest to them! Then, file Class-Action lawsuits that have led to many mentally open resistance to slave labor and conditions of abuse, which eventually it is turned on the openly disrespectful officers ill prisoners being removed from Solitary Confinement. is eroding the structures put in place beginning nearly 50 years that work to instigate hustling-relationships between These much needed releases out of Segregation came with ago to repress the prison movement of that era, such as solitary minority Black prisoners with Whites and Latinos. Then, it no changes to the unit’s orderly-run operation, and no confinement. gave rise to the California Department of Corrections and operational changes. There still would always be cases of From Yesterday’s Suppressed Prison Movement Rehabilitation (CDCR) ‘cashing-out’ to justify the building mental deterioration in these units. A 2012 Bench-Trial Ruling During the earlier wave of the prison movement (of the of Pelican Bay State Prison’s Special Housing Units (PBSP by U.S. Federal Judge Tonya Walton Pratt found that the 1960s-70s), when the courts barred their doors against prisoners’ SHUs), and later at Corcoran State Prison and at other IDOC was in violation of the Eighth Amendment subjecting lawsuits seeking redress against the inhumane conditions that CDCR facilities. These CDCR units and the infamous U.S. its prisoners in Solitary Confinement to Cruel and Unusual pervade U.S. prisons, the prisoners rose up in resistance. Federal BOP facility in Marion, Illinois, became the sites Punishment. In 2007, 11 of 23 suicides were committed by In a dialectical relationship, their movement both informed of bloodshed and deaths, including prisoner rebellions, mentally ill prisoners in Solitary Confinement Control Units, and was informed by revolutionary ideas then prevalent in and gladiator-style fights sponsored by the barbaric prison thus, nearly one-half of the prisoner suicides during this time the broader social movements of the time, which exposed administrative staff, who exchange bets on who they want were committed by 22% of the IDOC total population. These and challenged the capitalist system. At the forefront of that to win. Favors and privileges are promised to fighters, and prisoncrats all across the country warehouse men and women movement was the original Black Panther Party and allied if you refused, the danger of retaliation and or in Solitary Confinement, and are “manufacturing” mentally groups on the outside and comrades like George Jackson who worse was likely. Real Talk. and socially deprived monsters! Most prisoners will one day formed the BPP’s first prison chapter on the inside. There is a mountain of evidentiary documentation be released back into society. It’s not the prisoner’s fault, it is To suppress that movement and stamp out its revolutionary readily accessible, and can be turned over to anyone who all on the prison officials. consciousness, the establishment began constructing and files a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, which RELEASE FROM SOLITARY CONFINEMENT STRAIGHT operating solitary confinement prisons and units (called would clearly expose that Solitary Confinement is not a TO THE STREETS Supermaxes and Control Units) at an unprecedented level. deterrent to prisoner violence against prisoner and officer The rate continues to skyrocket all over this Beginning with the Marion Control Unit which opened in alike. country. The Amerikan Prison System has monumentally 1972, after the assassination of George Jackson by guards, and failed to provide quality reentry skills to people facing release. the peaceful 1971 uprising at Attica State Prison that officials The creators of these man-made There is a lack of job training, meaningful programming on suppressed by murdering 29 prisoners and ten civilians, then tombs, completely disregard trade skills, mental health therapy, educational opportunities tortured hundreds more, international outrage was sparked and the mental, psychological harm and placements into community-based facilities, which the inhumane conditions in U.S. prisons was exposed. they would be manufacturing includes much-needed halfway housing. In a rare admission of the actual political purpose of and overwhelmingly impacting A prisoner being released to the street(s) directly from subsequent high security units, Ralph Arons, a former warden Solitary Confinement is predictably doomed. This is at Marion, testified in federal court: “The purpose of the Marion human souls by forcing prisoners fundamentally unfair. Having spent 20 years in Solitary Control Unit is to control revolutionary attitudes in prison and to spend countless years, even Confinement, I personally would prefer to be allowed to go society at large.” 1 decades in small closet-like cells to General Population for at least six months prior to being Alongside this repression also came concessions to the Prison 23/24-hours a day. released. Having no human contact at all harms us and Movement, including prison officials granting prisoners more our ability to reconnect and adapt to being around people. privileges and the federal courts opening their doors to prisoner No human being was created by Allah to be deprived of Prisoners in these unfortunate circumstances may violate litigation challenging their living conditions. But this did not socialization and all forms of human contact. parole, commit new crimes and cause a lot of chaos. What do last. The barbaric creators behind this forced controlled we activists and revolutionaries desire to see done with this As the U.S. prison system expanded eight-fold and solitary isolation have been more concerned with brutality, Solitary Confinement nightmare to make it come to an end? confinement units contained prisoner resistance the concessions punishment, and a false sense of safety and security. How can we stop our government from harming people? were rolled back and the courts soon made rulings like Turner This desire to enforce control leads to the targeting of v. Safley2, and laws like the Post Conviction Risk Assessment (all) natural leaders. They began to systematically isolate There has to be help waiting for (PCRA)3 were enacted, that in effect reinstated the courts’ old Muslims, gang leaders, revolutionaries, militants, many of “hands off” doctrine towards prisoner lawsuits. whom remain in Control Units all across the country to this people returning home from prison. breeds renewed resistance date, with only a small group of them being placed into Long-Term Solitary Confinement With these reversals, abuse conditions intensified, especially programs, to slowly transition them to General Population leaves a lot of unseen scars. with the vastly expanded use of solitary confinement, a condition (GP). Qualified litigants preparing their individual and which the U.S. Supreme Court found to be cruel and unusual collective civil rights class-action suits exposed inadequate Prisoners are battling depression, anxiety, fear, paranoia, and constituted torture back in the late 1800s4, and the attendant mental health treatment, creating the mental instability in hallucinations, decompensation, Post Traumatic Stress enlargement of prison labor pools to be exploited as free workers. these prisoners. Syndrome, and much more. Our organizations have to begin Under these conditions of heightened abuse and exploitation a to expose these realities to the media, while at the same time, A well-known psychologist, Terry Kupers, [See Prison new prison movement has emerged and is only growing. calling the real perpetrators out on what they’ve created, then Focus Issue 56 pg 3] has extensively toured prisons and At each stage of this new movement record numbers of openly demand that monies be allocated to ensure all parties provided prisoncrat administrations with true findings of prisoners have joined and forged unity across racial and tribal who are affected get the psychological therapy that they need. fact on the levels of insanity being fostered by keeping these lines by which the system has traditionally been able to keep Because one thing is for certain, there are multiple reports Long-Term Solitary Confinement formats operational the prisoners divided and controlled. Even more monumental is showing clearly that it’s dangerous releasing prisoners to their past 30 to 40 years. that unity in these struggles has been achieved not just within freedom directly from Solitary Confinement. These actions IDOC’S USE OF LONG-TERM SOLITARY CONFINEMENT individual prisons, but across entire prison systems and now contribute to the high recidivism rates steadily rising all In 1991, the Indiana Department of Corrections (IDOC) across the country, with public support spanning the country and around this country. The prisoncrats are aware that they are opened its first Solitary Confinement Unit called (The reaching international levels. releasing men and women back into society, who have been Supermax) located in Westville, Indiana, and in the first This has and can only inspire greater levels of resistance and damaged by Solitary Confinement inside Amerika’s prison 6-12 months of its infancy, it would be the designated help us refine our forms of resistance and methods of organizing . ● location for 2-3 massive ‘hunger strikes’ and equally I am in full support of the work that IDOC-Watch is doing. and communication. huge family protests outside the prison. These two In Collective Solidarity, Bro. Khalfani Malik Khaldun 1 Quoted in Stephen Whitman, “The Marion Penitentiary—It Should be forces worked hand-in-hand to challenge the brutality of Prepared for and endorsed by IDOC-Watch. Opened-Up Not Locked Down,” Southern Illinoisan, August 7, 1988, p. guards beating prisoners, poor food portions, and living Khalfani Malik Khaldun is co-founder of IN-DOC Watch, and 25. 2 Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78 (1987), basically established that if conditions, these were among the list of demands the currently is the IDOC-Watch Inside Coordinator, and the Internal Facilitator of IDOC-Watch’s Educational Programs/Classes. prisoner officials can invent a rational sounding justification for violating outside protesters collectively wanted changed. After, a prisoner’s established constitutional rights the courts will allow them to a Class-Action Settlement was reached, and a Consent Bro. Khalfani Malik Khaldoun act illegally. (Leonard McQuay) #874304 IDOC-Watch 3 The PCRA is a federal law passed by Congress that makes it dif- Decree was ordered by the District Court to be followed WVCF, G-405 P.O. Box 2422 ficult for prisoners to sue in federal courts and get meaningful relief by the prisoncrats in charge of the Supermax Unit, now P.O. Box 1111 Bloomington, with they do. Many states have adopted similar laws. http://rashidmod. Indiana 47402 called in 1992, the IDOC opened up its second Solitary Carlisle, IN 47383 com/?p=2585 4 See, In re Medley, 134 U.S. 160 (1890). 4 PRISON FOCUS To these ends I’d like to summarize the major events the state refusing to turn out for work and boycotting the 8. State prisons must be funded specifically to offer more in today’s growing waves of prison resistance and call on . They were protesting unpaid slave rehabilitative services. readers to join and support the struggles to come. labor, price-gouging in the system’s commissary and 9. Pell grants must be reinstated in all U.S. states and And resist we have! packaging services, the gain-time scam that replaced parole, territories. When in 2008 a migrant, Jesus Manuel Galindo, was left compounded by extreme overcrowding caused by extreme 10. The voting rights of all confined citizens serving prison to die in a solitary confinement cell from untreated epilepsy, sentencing, causing inhumane conditions. sentences, pretrial detainees, and so-called “ex-felons” must be hundreds of detainees at Reeves County Detention Complex As Florida prison officials scrambled to replace men who counted. Representation is demanded. All voices count! in Pesos, Texas took over the complex and put it to the torch. refused to work with more compliant ones and transferred Conclusion Over $2 million in damage was reported in an uprising that and carted off strike participants to solitary confinement, they Slavery and oppressive “containment” of the marginalized united detainees from Cuba, Nigeria, Venezuela, and Mexico. falsely reported to the media that no strike and no retribution and poor never ended in Amerika. The 13th Amendment was During December 2010, prisoners in six Georgia prisons against participants occurred—an outright . passed as a compromise to previous slave owners whereby they went on a mass strike, protesting unpaid slave labor, solitary As one of Operation PUSH’s main outside supporters could continue to exploit the labor of disempowered people, but confinement, and other oppressive conditions. Latinos, informed me in a letter in late January 2018: now free of the burden of paying for their upkeep. This was Blacks, whites, prison tribes of all orientations, Muslims, “I am receiving mail daily from prisoners all done at taxpayers’ expense. etc., united in this protest. Following the week-long strike, over Florida who are either participating in PUSH This oppressive dynamic must continue to be resisted, as two years later at Jackson State Prison, where many of the or being retaliated against for having literature or must the inhumane and dehumanizing conditions that attend 2010 strike leaders had been transferred, a 44-day hunger correspondence with outside organizations that support in Amerika. It was only by resistance that the strike was staged as guards violently retaliated. the strike, such as IWOC and FTP. Some have been slaves of the old antebellum slave system effectively countered In 2011 and 2013 three historic mass hunger strikes were outright threatened with if they continue to the lies, and logic of the ruling powers of that system erected undertaken by California prisoners protesting indefinite talk to us…There was only six weeks of planning and it by them to justify their institutions of slavery. It was only solitary confinement and other abuses, where 6,000, 12,000, was covered by 50 news outlets including Newsweek, by unifying in that resistance and sabotage and ultimately and 30,000 prisoners respectively, participated. Prisoners The Nation, Teen Vogue! I think we’re off to a good start fighting for their freedom, with the support of outside allies and in other states also joined the strike—in Virginia, Oregon, and the DOC is lying that no one is participating.” comrades, that the slaves of the old South destroyed the system Washington state, etc. This strike united and was led by Not only this but I can bear witness to Florida officials’ as it was. Blacks, Latinos, and whites, and all the major California lying about there being no strike, nor reprisals, because I also But it was only reformed into the system of penal slavery prison tribes, which led to a call by the prisoners to end participated. that it is now. So we still have much work to do until slavery in all racial and group hostilities, and which Cali prison On the eve of the strike the warden at Florida State Prison Amerika is abolished once and for all. officials have repeatedly tried to sabotage. This strike and (FSP) had me and nearly a dozen others with whom I was Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win! All Power to the People! ● unprecedented unity alongside legal challenges by some known to socialize split up, which we’d anticipated. This did Write to: strike leaders and participants forced the Cali prison system nothing to prevent our planned boycott of the commissary Kevin Johnson, #1007485 to reform its long-term solitary confinement policies and for several weeks. In fact it allowed us to spread the word. Sussex 1 State Prison release some 2,000 prisoners to general population in 2015.5 Then on January 10th the warden had me charged with a 24414 Musselwhite Drive Waverly, VA 23891 Inspired by the 2010 Georgia , in 2013, disciplinary report for inciting Florida prisoners to riot, in www.rashidmod.com prisoner leaders of the Free Alabama Movement (FAM) retaliation for me writing an article explaining the strikes called for a strike in protest of Alabama’s “running a slave purpose and the prisoners’ need of public support that was empire” and “incarcerating people for free labor.” In January published online.8 After a prompt kangaroo hearing and ‘No longer human’ 2014, prisoners at four Alabama prisons took up the strike. As conviction of the infraction I was put in an unheated cell a result of FAM’s organizing efforts and collaborating with with a broken window as outside temperatures dipped into Women’s prisons are a breeding ground the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a committee the 20s, and guards kept exhaust fans on 24/7, sucking the for sexual harassment, abuse. Incarcerated within the IWW was formed called the Incarcerated Workers freezing air into the cell.9 women and gender minorities are largely left Organizing Committee (IWOC), which now has over 800 Yet another call went out, initiated by NABPP’s comrade out of the #MeToo discussion. Stacy Rojas imprisoned members in 46 states. The IWOC has since Malik for a renewed round of strikes across the U.S. to wants to change that. played an important support role in subsequent strikes and begin on Juneteenth (June 19, 2018). As I and several dozen By Marisa Endicott building public support. Shortly after the IWOC’s founding, prisoners at Florida’s Santa Rosa prison where I was then Published by ThinkProgress on August 29, 2018 the IWOC and the New Afrikan Black Panther Party-Prison confined prepared a commissary boycott for this strike, https://thinkprogress.org/sexual-harassment-abuse-womens- Chapter united as allies in this work, and I as a co-founder and undertook to build unity among the prisoners there prisons-me-too-5231b62c1785/ of the NABPP and numerous other NABPP members joined in solitary (to counter the culture of guard-manipulated tacy Rojas can still smell the chewing tobacco from the IWOC.6 violence between them), I was abruptly interstate transferred prison guard who spit on them three years ago during an In 2014, all 1200 detainees at the Northwest Detention back to my home state of Virginia and promptly assigned incident in which guards allegedly subjected Rojas and Center in Tacoma, Washington, went on a 56-day hunger to a permanent solitary confinement status called Intensive S strike, which spread to the Joe Corley Detention Center in Management. their two cellmates to hours of sexual , harassment, Conroe, Texas, all protesting oppressive conditions at the The Struggle Continues and . facilities. Outside protesters organized in support of the But the struggle doesn’t end there. A broad call has gone “For me, that was torture, and it still is torture,” said Rojas, strikers. out for a sustained prison strike from August 21-September who is gender nonconforming. “I still have bad dreams about In April 2016, prisoners in seven Texas prisons went on a 9, 2018, for prisoners across the U.S. Participants are called it.” work strike at the call of leading comrades of the NABPP’s on to participate in any, several, or all of the following Rojas was released from Central California Women’s Texas branch and IWOC. The month before, a spontaneous manners: Facility, a state prison in Chowchilla, one and a half years ago uprising took place in Alabama at Holman prison, where ● Work strikes:Pprisoners will not report to assigned jobs. after a 15-year term. Along with their female cellmates who are the new warden, Carter Davenport, known for his role in Each place of detention will determine how long its strike still inside, Rojas filed a lawsuit over the episode in November physical assaults on prisoners, ended up on the receiving end will last. Some of these strikes may translate into a local list 2017. The case was referred to Magistrate Judge Jennifer L. of violence. of demands designed to improve conditions and reduce harm Thurston in July and a hearing is set to take place. These initiatives in early 2016 inspired a call to prisoners within the prison. During the ordeal, which took place in November 2015, across the U.S. to engage in a country-wide strike beginning ●Sit-ins: In certain prisons, people will engage in peaceful guards allegedly stomped on one woman’s breast, cut another’s on September 9, 2016, a date chosen to commemorate the sit-in protests. clothes off, left them in isolation cells so long they hadno 1971 Attica uprising. ●Boycotts: All spending should be halted. People on the choice but to soil themselves, and berated them with graphic September 9th proved historical as over 30,000 prisoners inside will inform you if they are participating in this boycott. sexual insults and suggestions. in up to 46 facilities in 24 states took up various forms of ●Hunger strikes: People shall refuse to eat. While this was an extreme example, sexual harassment and protest from refusing to work, to hunger strikes, to prison The strike will raise the following ten general demands: abuse of women, transgender, and gender nonconforming takeovers, to disrupting operations. Outside protests took 1. Immediate improvements to the conditions of prisons people in women’s prisons and jails are anything but rare. Rojas place in various cities across the U.S. in support of the and prison policies that recognize the humanity of imprisoned had documented guards’ denigrating and sexual comments for prisoners. people. weeks, a fact they think inspired the hours-long attack which In response to the rising voices of prisoners resisting slave 2. An immediate end to prison slavery. All persons occurred four days after they demanded to report the verbal labor and abusive treatment, on August 19, 2017, a March imprisoned in any place of detention under United States abuse. on Washington was undertaken in support of prisoners and jurisdiction must be paid the prevailing wage in their state or “This is not something that happens once a month or even once against the 13th Amendment which, enacted at the end of the territory for their labor. a week. This is an everyday thing,” Rojas told ThinkProgress. Civil War in 1865, legalized enslavement of the criminally 3. The Prison Litigation Reform Act must be rescinded, “This is what goes on, and this is how they speak to you. They convicted, in violation of international law written and allowing imprisoned humans a proper channel to address refer to women as bitches and hoes, and if you’re not, then ratified by the U.S. after World War II, which forbids all grievances and violations of their rights. they’re going to make you their bitch.” forms of slavery and involuntary servitude. 7 4. The Truth in Sentencing Act and Sentencing Reform While incarcerated people across the country are currently Shaken by the protests of September 2016, in an Act must be rescinded so that imprisoned humans have a striking to demand improved conditions and better channels possibility of rehabilitation and parole. No humans shall be unprecedented move, states like Florida locked down their for reporting mistreatment, few are aware of the extreme abuse sentenced to Death by Incarceration or serve any sentence entire prison system hoping to head off any possible uprisings rampant in women’s prisons and jails. These institutions are without the possibility of parole. attending the August 19, 2017, Washington march. Florida breeding grounds for the type of harassment that has become 5. An immediate end to the racist overcharging, over- went even further to serve its prisoners special gourmet meals a national focal point thanks to the #MeToo movement. But sentencing, and parole of Black and Brown people. during the entire four-day lockdown (from August 18-21). behind bars, so far from the public eye with so few checks and Black people shall no longer be denied parole because the Despite this move, Florida prisoners made an end run victim of the crime was white, which is a particular problem balances to hold staff accountable, the problem becomes more around officials and still undertook a strike code-named in southern states. blatant and extreme. Operation PUSH, beginning January 15, 2018, on Martin 6. An immediate end to racist gang enhancement laws “You have people who are primarily men in positions of Luther King Jr.’s birthday. PUSH involved prisoners across targeting Black and Brown people. basically absolute power over a captive – literally captive 5 “California Solitary Success,” By Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, 7. Nonimprisoned person shall be denied access to – population,” said Diana Block, founding member of the Socialist Viewpoint, Vol. 15, No. 6, http://www.socialistviewpoint.org/ rehabilitative programs at their place of detention because of California Coalition for Women Prisoners, which is helping novdec_15/novdec_15_33.html with the lawsuit. “All the dynamics of and patriarchy 6 Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, “Black Cats Bond: The Industrial their label as a violent offender. Workers of the World and the New Afrikan Black Panther Party- and sexual violence that are very prevalent in the society as Prison Chapter.” http://rashidmod.com/?p=1251 8 Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, “Florida Prisoners Are Laying it Down.” a whole are translated directly into the conduct and behavior 7 See, Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, (2018) http://rashidmod.com/?p=2498 which states: “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery 9 “How to Organize A Prison Strike,” Pacific Standard (May 7, within prisons with very little protection or surveillance or and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.” 2018) https://psmag.com/social-justice/how-to-organize-a-prison- recourse.” strike ISSUE 57 5

Between 2009 and 2011, women represented just 13 The sense that there will be no recourse or, even worse, that way being attacked. We must learn to utilize all resources percent of the people in jails, but they accounted for there will be retaliation, can have a chilling effect on reporting. at our disposal and begin to unify our family, comrades, 67 percent of all staff-on-prisoner sexual victimization, And the utter isolation factor can leave incarcerated women associates and any community organizations, political according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. feeling all the more helpless. activist, lawyers and radio stations etc., around our struggle. "In the context of incarceration, sexual harassment takes “That’s one of the things we are really grappling with is what Before we'll be able to proceed with our plans, we must be on a much more violent, humiliating and dehumanizing system can we ask for that would be better? What does it mean able to clearly articulate our plight and desire to amend the quality than what is typically discussed in the #MeToo to be a whistleblower and have any type of protection when justice system and Draconian laws which are destroying our movement, almost as if it’s part of the punishment for you’re in prison,” Block said. neighborhoods and inner-communities. Black men and our committing a crime", Block explained. That’s why, beyond seeking damages, Rojas’ lawsuit is youth are being plucked from the roots of their communities, “All the dynamics of sexism and patriarchy and sexual seeking injunctive relief in a number of areas, including the eliminating our chances of reproduction with our women. violence that are very prevalent in the society … are development of a whistleblowing process managed by an .If we are to succeed, we must be diligent and fully aware translated directly into the conduct and behavior within external agency. The goal is to be able to hold correctional of how laws, procedures and regulations are being enacted prisons.” officers and staff accountable for mistreatment, excessive daily. Moreover, oftentimes we only become apprised of Rojas said part of what is most misunderstood about force, and the use of solitary confinement cages, claiming these laws once our loved ones have stepped on the landmine incarcerated women, and especially transgender and gender officers violated the prisoners’ Eighth Amendment rights to be and one's well-being is at stake. Under crucial possibilities, nonconforming people behind bars, is the sense that they free from cruel and unusual punishment. The lawsuit also aims we search for fair justice in an unjust world; and in a manner chose to break the law or be different, and so they may not to ensure prisoners can access proper medical care, food, and of speaking, an unjust society. Why shouldn't a country not be worthy of the same attention or protection. clothing. hold its citizens responsible when its citizens are dying from It’s like “we made that choice to get treated like this,” There is reason to be hopeful. Despite the many deterrents, the inhumane and sadistic system it vigorously supports? Rojas said. For “the women there, I feel like people also reporting of sexual victimization has increased in recent Because it helps to sustain its employees’ insatiable appetite look at them not as mothers, not as sisters… and they should years, according to new Bureau of Justice Statistics findings. for wealth and power. just think a little bit more about why they’re there, what Nationwide, grassroots efforts have increased public and media .If mankind admits that slavery was [is] cruel and inhumane, went wrong, instead of ‘they’re there, and now they’re no awareness about women prisoners. At the federal level, several it‘s impossible to the plantation owners without longer human.’” members of congress have introduced legislation around the placing equal blame on the government, courts, corporate Incarcerated women have largely been left out of the dignity of incarcerated women, and there is hope that such business profiteers and anyone benefiting from slave labour. #MeToo discussion, just as they are left out of many efforts might increase as more women take on legislative Prison has established itself in our society as the new form conversations. positions. of modern slavery. California has become the insignia of an Part of the reason may be that incarcerated women “I think just as the #MeToo movement represents some level institutional state, capitalizing off of the mass-incarceration disproportionately come from the most vulnerable and of evolution or culmination of struggles and consciousness of its African-American, Hispanic, Asian and misfortunate overlooked communities. In jails, the majority of women that has been developing over decades, so too within the White citizens. We must choose our own weapon of choice lack full employment prior to arrest and a third suffer from prisons, there has been a changing at least awareness that and join in the fight to maintain our existence. Behind these serious mental illness, according to a 2016 report by the that imbalance and power dynamic and that status quo is not desolate concrete walls, gun towers, steel and barbed wire Vera Institute of Justice. Two-thirds of jailed women are acceptable,” Block said. fences, I call for all men and women of every ethnic group people of color. Now on the outside, Rojas often feels a sort of “survivor’s and nationality to awaken and fight together, thus breaking “As the most marginalized community, this is just guilt” when they think of their former cellmates still inside. It the stronghold of power that the Department of Corrections something else where it’s not discussed and that we are makes them depressed, but also even more determined. and their union currently possess. Our lives are dependent the last to be talked about,” said Topeka Sam, a former “That’s why I really have that fire inside me,” Rojas said. “I upon it. prisoner and the founder of the Ladies of Hope Ministries, want to let the world know and get whatever help I can.” an organization that helps formerly incarcerated women ##METOO, #FREELANCE, #JUSTICE, #POLICE BRUTALITY, #PRISON, Jihad Against Sex Offenders transition back into society. #SEXUAL ASSAULT, #, #WOMEN ● To whom* it may concern, thank you for sending me your Sam pointed out that while the #MeToo movement was quarterly newspaper for challenging oppression everywhere. founded by a black woman, Tarana Burke, over a decade I share the desire to challenge oppression as well, including ago, the mainstream media and public didn’t start paying against our overpowered government. I believe I can save you attention until more affluent and white women started more VOICES a couple dollars though. Your coverage of the prop 57 debacle speaking out. Letters, Excerpts and Quotes has solidified my understanding of your paper as being only Even within criminal justice circles and reform efforts, for “solid” inmates. Therefore you should stop sending it women and gender nonconforming individuals are often The Strength Behind to me as I am a sex offender. Everyone knows that all sex left out, according to Elizabeth Swavola, a senior associate * offenders are psychotic rapists that steal kids from bushes and with the Center on Sentencing and Corrections at the Vera Solidarity should be locked away forever. Challenging oppression from Institute. Women make up a much smaller proportion of the \By Kamau Jones an overbearing system certainly doesn’t include the Jihad overall incarcerated population, making them less of a focus. y Father, Big Aldon, initially didn't have any interest against sex offenders! We can’t stop that because some of But, over the last several decades, the incarceration rate of to divulge his involvement in the co-foundings of the us looked at pictures of someone else committing a crime. I growth for women has been double that of men’s, according street gang known as the Crips. He felt inclined to M mean, can you imagine if people everywhere started looking to The Sentencing Project. Since 1980, the population do so after extensive dialogue about the need to communicate at pictures of murders, car thefts and bank robberies?! Society of women in jails and prisons rose from about 26,000 to his version of the original establishment of the Crips. would fall apart! So you can find me easily and remove me almost 214,000 in 2016, a stunning growth rate of about 800 .I felt an obligational need to attempt to convey to him the from your system. Keep up the good work for all the “good” percent. (The Sentencing Project) many reasons I considered it necessary in order to give a clear people though… well, at least the ones who aren’t running up The population explosion means that women have been and accurate account of why this group actually started. With huge drug debts… or huge gambling debts… or huge store funneled into systems that were not built for them. Even an objective to get all Crips, Bloods, Kumis and BGFs and depts... But all the other ones. Yeah! Sincerely, Anonymous supposedly standard correctional practices like shackling, other street and prison organizations to see that we all share a common interest as black men against all odds. observing prisoners changing and using the bathroom, or Another Case of Failure to Protect performing body searches can take on an especially sexual .I believe this is a struggle, challenge and opportunity to expose Dear* Sir/Madam, and violating nature when performed by male guards on the truth of how the government through their implementation Please take note that on a regular basis murderers are female inmates. This is particularly true for the shockingly of laws, amendments and death camp institutions, has been allowed to be housed on the same yard and cells of the high proportion of women prisoners who are already engineered to control, eliminate and capitalize on our lack of victim’s family within the California prison system. There are survivors of sexual violence, as Rojas and their cellmates knowledge. The so-called justice system is a silk web designed countless incidents of prisoners being murdered and assaulted are, a reported 86 percent of women in jails, the Vera to entrap the underprivileged people - Blacks, Hispanics and as a result of this phenomenon, which is perpetual with no Institute report showed. poor Whites here in North America. remedy in view. “All of that can be incredibly traumatic for any person .If we aren't careful to analyze our current condition, we will become its next casualty to crumble under the immense power In 2011 my brother was murdered...(later the man who but particularly for women knowing how high the rates killed him was transferred to the facility where this writer was of trauma are,” Swavola told ThinkProgress. “Most of the of such a system that was born out of the belly of diabolical cruelty and oppression. I live everyday amongst others who located.)...upon us seeing each other it resulted in physical people in jail are men, and that’s how systems and practices confrontation whereby criminal charges are pending against currently share my fate. We are fully conscious and aware have been designed, and so it’s absolutely easy to miss that me for assault with a weapon. that we are the victims. The victims of bourgeois men of women may be triggered by some of the standard practices.” In light of the above, please provide me with any and power and laws, governed against our survival. The victims In general, support services and training are lacking in all material or cases that highlight incidents of convicted of concrete, steel, ill health, discomfort, loneliness and family jails and prisons for both the prisoners and the guards. criminals being housed with their victim’s family members. abandonment. “It’s not rehabilitative,” Sam said. “It’s a dark place, for Any assistance in this matter would be highly appreciated The most powerful tool man was ever to successfully everybody. And they’re not getting the type of treatment that beyond measure... they need either…So it’s just this constant violence being create was the pen and the wet ink as its ammunition. perpetuated over and over.” The English language was the linguistics of their massacre. * A Constitutional Obligation The especially closed system and lack of accountability The English vocabulary has always been used as a weapon, I need your help. My life is in serious danger. I have many for reporting abuse is a major factor in continuing the cycle. against its naive victims who are foreign to its understanding Safety and Enemy concerns. All of which I’ve verbally and To report staff misconduct of any kind, prisoners can file an and interpretation under the rules of laws. As a victim, I realize in writing expressed via CDCR 22 forms, 602/602A’s, and administrative appeal (a 602) to request an investigation. But that if Blacks and Hispanic men aren't able to discover some letters to your office, CDCR Ombudsman, CDCR Internal the problem is “you are filing the 602 basically with, if not way out of this labyrinth, we will soon eliminate our chances Affairs, Prison Law Office and Office of Inspector General, the actual people, the friends of the people, the coworkers of for survival. We must ask ourselves, how long can we continue which to date no help as of yet...I notified [staff members the people, who have abused you,” Block said. to be incarcerated at such an enormous rate? The only way that and the Warden] about my Safety and Enemy concerns...if Rojas and the other plaintiffs filed multiple 602 grievances mankind has ever been able to protect, defend and preserve I’m housed with any of them at all, I’ll be stabbed, assaulted, that were for the most part ignored or left unresolved. “You one's existence is to understand the nature of his opponent. Then and suffer serious bodily injury. I have a constitutional right want to make someone laugh in there? You want to tell a create and/or devise some form of plan or weapon to combat to be protected... CDCR has a constitutional obligation to joke,” Rojas said. “You tell them you’re filing a 602.” such an assault. protect me... which they’re refusing to do. Their malicious And when Rojas and their cellmates dialed a hotline meant .Whether or not we are willing to face this harsh reality is and deliberate refusal is going to get me seriously injured or for reporting sexual harassment at the California Department solely dependent upon us. We must not act as if this problem killed. Please! HELP! ME! I fear for my life and safety…. of Correction and Rehabilitation’s Office of Internal Affairs, doesn't exist, nor act upon it until it's become too late. What I Please start an investigation and call the prison to prevent the the number was no good. “It is so discouraging…You’re propose we do in order to combat against our current situation, above mentioned staff from putting me in a life threatening hopeless.” is to first recognize we all need each other. We are all in some situation. Write me back Please! Anonymous 6 PRISON FOCUS * The Monell Action are no Family Visits due to a 15+ year lack of family visiting arguably knew or should have known the policy, procedure, facilities. Regular visiting facilities are outdoors, being pretty action or inaction as applied could foreseeably violate or Challenging CDCr's Failure to "Protect All Persons miserable in both summertime and winter. And about living deprive an individual or individuals of their right(s). And, the in their Custody from Foreseeable Harm." conditions: No heat or ventilation in the cells. 105° and 45° department’s or agency’s policy procedure, action/inaction As an experienced "Jailhouse Lawyer" with a reputation are not optimal cell conditions, nor is 98% humidity and air was in fact the PROXIMATE CAUSE of the deprivation for being proactive. I commend your editorial staff for quality which is rated as 'Unhealthy for All Groups' optimal or violation of federal right(s). The resulting harms are your recent coverage of CDCr's significant policy changes conditions for high-risk medical patients. A chief complaint sufficient to offend the sensibilities of ordinary persons. abolishing Sensitive Needs Yards (SNY) replacing them of long-termers is "this is no high-risk medical facility, this LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE with Non-Designated Programm Facilities (NDPF) along is the worst medical care I've experienced while I've been A Monell action is the appropriate legal remedy for with publishing the department's irrational justifications for down!" There are plenty of promises here about change and violation/deprivation of well established federal rights doing so. (Prison Focus, Issue 56, Summer 2018, page 12.) excuses abound why conditions haven't abated or improved proximately caused by CDCr's new policies replacing SNY Your coverage is helpful to Jailhouse lawyers because it here in nearly 20 years, but the ultimate explanation from designations with Non-Designated Program Facilities. These memorializes in print both CDCr's new policy and defense of authorities when you pin them down is "This isn't CDCr, it's new policies easily meet the basic criteria and essential the new policy being pro-offered by various CDCr officials. CIM and we do what we want here!” The prediction can be elements of this type of legal action. Remember. CDCr Here at California Institution for Men (CIM), a Level II High- reasonably made that the angst of former GP inmates sent to established SNY facilities twelve years ago to stem the tide Risk Medical Facility, formerly designated as SNY, the Chief CIM’s Facility C will be directly proportional to how much of violence and predatory behavior toward specific inmate Warden and Associate Warden for Programs conducted "Town better the conditions are and how many perks there were at the populations we know to be at risk when housed in General Hall Meetings" for inmates on the SNY yards. Their presentations inmate‘s previous institution, that they forfeited, being sent to Population. These populations include homosexuals, about the impending changes from SNY to NDPF facilities were CIM Facility C. Here's a rhetorical question: Are they likely transgenders, sex offenders, inmates with the reputation as indeed colorful, as in policy statements, actions, objectives and to take out their frustration on known gays, transgenders, and a ’snitch‘ and prison gang 'dropouts' at grave risk of serious justifications publicly stated by officials operating underColor chomos when they decide they don't want to be here? bodily injury or death perpetrated by the remaining 'active' and Authority of state law. An answer the Wardens provided at the Town Hall Meetings prison gang members. Twelve Years ago CDCr recognized THE SNIFF TEST was even more disturbing. They openly admitted that they substantial hams were occurring and the nexus between While CDCr's general objective of "reducing the level expect violent incidents will occur during the transition and the harms and the department's actions / inaction and the of violence" and expanding "rehabilitation programing "...if an employee witnesses the incident, the offender will deprivations of inmate's civil rights under the Eighth and opportunity" are laudable, this major policy shift embraced to be dealt with as a 'program failure' and sent to worse non- Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S.Constitution. CDCr achieve these objectives doesn't pass the sniff test because it programming facility. It is incumbent on 'the victims' to established the SNY classification and SNY facilities is highly implausible, largely ignoring CDCr's past (and now report assaults and these violent incidents..." Sensing the utter essentially to protect the targeted groups from further quite recent) experiences. The new policy largely discounts disbelief in the audience that the Wardens had the audacity to foreseeable harms. the human nature of a very large segment of California's say these things (publicly), the Warden admonished all of us Along the way, CDCr became disenchanted with the prison inmate population. Curbing violence by mixing to "Keep in mind this is prison. Bad things happen to people concept of SNY inmates and SNY facilities largely because formerly General Population (GP) inmates with formerly in prison and there is a reason why inmates choose to be SNY of new problems of the department's own making. For one SNY inmates is akin to herding wild wolves into the nursery or are forced to become SNY...It doesn't 'Just Happen'. They thing, SNY inmates were treated as second class citizens in the local hospital’s maternity ward in an effort to reduce the probably pissed off the wrong person by something they did and SNY facilities deteriorated into second class facilities slaughter of farmers' livestock. Any reasonable person would or something they said." This statement however, is a tacit more and more frequently when it came to funding and know both plans were destined to end badly. admission that SNY inmates were SNY inmates for reasons resource allocation, more and more frequently, the SNY Prison officials at CIM began sending SNY inmates toa concerning their personal safety. facilities 'drew the short straw'. With time came the growing formerly GP facility in January 2018 with almost immediate WHEN DUTY CALLS, SAY IT AIN'T SO supposition that correctional officers were banished to jobs dire consequences. Many SNY inmates elected to go to Mental on the SNY yards as retribution because they too were misfits Health Crisis Beds (MHCB) after transfer to [the newly Let the reader be reminded here that CDCr and all and deserved to be second class employees. According to the merged yard], rather than contend with the constant daily of the department's employees have a mandated duty CIM Wardens at the Town Hall Meetings, suddenly we had threat of violence. When there were no more available MHCB under state and federal law to protect all persons in their new SNY prison gangs running their game and politicking space, most chose to go to Administrative Segregation under custody from foreseeable harms. on SNY yards that were indistinguishable gang activity. the theory it was better to be uncomfortable, inconvenienced on virtually every GP yard and they had to be dealt with. BUT SAFE until they complete their prison term than to It logically follows then that an inmate's right to be protected The BIG LIE has this didn't happen suddenly at all - as try and cope with the constant threat of physical harm, be from foreseeable harms (included in the Eighth Amendment in overnight, but rather, it occurred over a period of years seriously injured or even dead before they finished serving prohibition of Cruel and Unusual Punishment) can never largely because CDCr failed to properly screen and vet SNY their sentence. be made contingent upon the right of equal opportunity of inmates and indiscriminately housed inmates on SNY yards. Prison officials are rationalizing the policy shift with a access to rehabilitation programming. In other words, there NOW YOU SEE IT - NOW YOU DON’T theory most inmates will avoid/refrain from engaging in is no recognizable or plausible legal theory to support the .What really happened suddenly was CDCr officials violence to ensure their earlier release. Recent experience. presumption that prohibiting equal and maximum access realized they had created a monster in establishing SNY however, negates that theory. Level I inmates already get to CDCr’s rehabilitation programs is lawful, nor one that designated inmates and facilities “...that had to be dealt three days off their sentence for every day actually served (2 justifies the elimination of, or severe limitations on, a groups' with…” Their ‘solution’ to abolish SNY facilities and for 1 credit) compared to "day for day" credit in Levels II - IV right to protection from foreseeable harms. establish non-designated program facilities is akin to a plan AND for the most part, Level I inmates are "short-timers" to Nevertheless, CDCr officials justify the elimination of SNY to put out forest fires by dropping thousands of gallons of begin with! Based on recent outcomes, we can readily infer facilities with their implausible assertion that establishment gasoline on the flames from airplanes without concern for inmates are willing to risk losing accelerated credit earning of non-designated program facilities will provide expanded foreseeable collateral damage. No reasonable person would by engaging in predatory behavior and violence against access to rehabilitation opportunities for all inmates. Don't be believe, given what is known about the culture of violence homosexual, bisexual, transgender inmates and convicted fooled. Elimination of SNY designations is merely an in-artful and violence as a way of life in California prisons; this sex offenders as a matter of "protecting one's own honor attempt to dodge their mandated duty under the law by laying policy solution has a snowball’s chance in hell of solving and reputation". Prison officials are knowingly promoting an the responsibility for protection from foreseeable harms on anything. By prison officials own admission, they expect obviously flawed, false, erroneous presumption. the backs of all inmates: "If you want to go home early don't violent incidents will follow “because, this is prison and bad EARTH IS ALWAYS FLAT WHEN DONKEYS FLY! get caught assaulting/injuring/killing other inmates." It's okay things happen to people in prison.” And, if a former SNY The Warden and Associate Warden (AW) provided two though, if you don't get caught ... inmate sustains serious injury or is killed, it’s their own fault answers in response to the above charges at these ‘Town CDCr and their officials appear here to be gambling with for being SNY and they probably deserved it... Hall Meetings' on Facility C. shortly before the yard‘s people's lives and betting on the likelihood jailhouse lawyers WHAT'S A POOR BOY TO DO? designation changed from SNY to NDPF. The first answer and inmates generally will not uncover all the fallacies of This is my suggestion to those who have been or will be was another unlikely presumption that the transition to these new policies and utilize the available, appropriate injured in result of this policy change or those who know a occur on Facility C. was significantly different from what and potent legal remedy. That remedy is called a MONELL friend or family member injured as a result of said policy was occurring at Facility D where a small minority of SNY ACTION (See Monell v. Department of Social Services of the shift. First, under Monell, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder inmates were relocated and housed with a majority of GP City of New York, 56 LED2D 611, 436 U.S. 658). A Monell (PTSD) or other mental health condition not present before inmates. According to the Warden, conditions would be much Action is a special hybrid form of a civil rights action under the incident is an injury. Injured parties have at least two different on Facility C, where GP inmates would be slowly 42 USC §1983 but with some substantial differences. The years to file legal action claiming violence/deprivation of integrated into a formerly designated SNY facility...With their typical civil rights action pursuant to 42 USC §1983 requires their Eighth Amendment right and Fourteenth Amendment own anxieties, fears and trepidation, those of us with decades a claim(s) that an individual, operating under color and Equal Protection right if the victim is gay, lesbian, bisexual of California prison experience behind us could only laugh. authority of state law violated or deprived another person of or transgender. You can bring a Monell action under 42 USC Obviously, the GP newcomers have nothing to fear from the rights secured under the U.S. constitution or created by federal §1983 against the California Department of Corrections SNY population. What they fear is the recriminations coming law. For prisoners, there must also be a colorful showing that and Rehabilitation as well as action against any involved from their big homie and homeboys about their failure to take the individual operating under color of state law acted with employee in either their individual or official capacity. In out some faggots, trannies, or chomos when there were plenty deliberate indiffierence when they violated or deprived an California, you can also bring what is called "a pendant state of opportunities to do so, proving they are worthy of all the individual of the well established federal right(s) of prisoners. claim" - a claim under state law pursuant to California Civil homies’ respect, in keeping with the tacit inmate honor code! There must also be a clear nexus between the state actor's Procedure Code (CIV) §52 known as the Unruh Civil Rights PUTTING LIPSTICK ON YOUR PIG AND CALLING action or inaction and the right that is implicated. In a Monell Act. If the employee involved is a California Peace Officer IT MOM action, the "state actor" is a government agency or department (all corrections officers and Counselors) there are additional .More to the point, if former GP inmates are being told (not an individual) which "unconstitutionally implemented a remedies under the Civil Code. The injured party should they are coming to a Programing Facility but wind up on policy statement, ordinance, regulation or decision officially file a government claim with the Victim Compensation, CIM's Facility C, quite soon after they will discern calling adopted by that body’s officers" which violates or deprives an Government Claims Board within six months, and in no case Facility C a "Programming Facility" is very much like individual of constitutional or other federally created rights. more than twelve months from the date of the incident if the putting lipstick on a pig. The infrastructure here is neglected Unlike typical §1983 actions, there is no need to demonstrate victim intends to pursue a pendant state claim. If no one at and falling apart. There are no vocational programs with no physical injuries in order to prevail. your prison facility is familiar with filing a Monell action, plan to hire vocational program staff after the last remaining .The elements of a Monell action generally include the feel free to contact me in writing through this publication VOC instructor retired. There is no Prison Industry Authority following: the agency or department and its duties are if you desire my assistance and advocacy in this regard. (PIA); paid inmate job assignments are few and far between established by law. The agency or department were aware of Anonymously Fed Up ● as most job assignments come with no pay number. There the well established constitutional or other federal right, and

ISSUE 57 7 Yard merging: Gladiator Fights All Over Again?! * Things Are Not Going To Change *This letter is being sent to several outside agencies and persons. The current Unless The Whole Scheme Is Put On The Table For Everybody To See policy change in CDCR, known by the label 50/50 facilities, is just that, a label I have arrived at a CCI – Tehachapi level III facility...I was warned prior to my arrival that Tehachapi with no acknowledgement of the known dangers to come. And yet CDCR level IIIs and IVs, SNYs are not good places to rehabilitate. Eye witnesses and victims themselves told me prisoners are being forced to transfer. This has been approved by CDCR Secretary about seeing hearing and being handcuffed and beaten for no reason at all. That they were written up with of Corrections Scott Kernan. This intentional act to incite and promote violence false charges... I have previously spent a few months of SHU time at CCI Tehachapi back in 2010, so, I amongst prisoners is a Civil Rights violation. It’s possible outcome is evident. know that rehabilitation and keeping inmates safe is not one of CCI‘s priorities.... Policies implemented by Gov. Jerry Brown and Secretary of Corrections Scott “I heard That HDSP’s level 4 facilities are “cracking” along with Tehachapi’s level 4 SNYs and North Kernan are very complicated to understand by anyone. Especially citizens of Kern Delano level 4 SNYs. By cracking I mean full-blown politics; hits: attempt to murder and murders. California who are not involved in CDCR. As well as occasional riots.... A billion dollars check cut every year for our rehabilitation shall not include Any attempt to decipher the motivations of CDCR policymakers requires some the possibility of being lynched by our oppressor’s employees or killed by our fellow STGs – manipulated understanding of the language these individuals tend to use. When CDCR used gang members. coded language to make their view known, certain terms were given “Special Meanings” that were known to those of the inner circle. The complexity of these If we don’t put into pen and paper the violent events occurring messages were prevalent in the Public Hearing Notices and were meant to shape right in front of our eyes who else is going to do it? public opinions, and usually prevailed in official documents as well. The terms Let’s not forget most our fellow slaves can’t read or write or are too scared to be caught reporting, fearing “Public Safety” and “Adverse Costs = 0” are two examples. retaliation from both the STGs or rogue gang members – officers. This paramont failure of the implemented policy of 50/50 facilities has Things are not going to change unless the whole scheme is put on the table for everybody to see. [What’s resulted in hundreds of transferred prisoners being assaulted. This policy was needed is] education (via TVs, tablets, computers) and rehabilitation along with a little bit of hope (for only enacted to save CDCR employee positions, to fill empty bed spaces. Too freedom) at the end of our path. That can be a good start at facilities plagued by STGs and drug/alcohol many empty beds will result in facilities being closed. addictions. The violence won’t stop with 24/7 lock ups, TV’s garbage programming and the occasional Prisoners have been beaten, severely maimed, and murdered by this policy. handcuffed beating.” Anonymous In addition CDCR staff have also been assaulted by prisoners [seeking to avoid placement in a 50/50 facility]. Even prison staff feel their hands are tied. The * Don’t Let Them Win * PBSP is Back to its Normal Antics of decision was not made out of concern for Public Safety nor without adverse costs, Greetings to my brothers and my sisters in Abusing Their Authority Without Recourse. such as: 1) Transportation to three facilities 2) Emergency Medical Transport 3) the struggles and the everyday process of I’m penning this brief update to expose what is Additional Housing in Administration Segregation and Secure Housing Units survival within this beast entitled Armageddon, occurring here here at PBSP SHU, at least from my point 4) Staff relocation for Emergency Alarms, Overtime 5) Medical treatment for throughout all the 35 prisons (AKA Plantations) of view or experience . . . so all are aware. injured; Outside medical costs. in the burning state of California... I recently returned to the SHU. after being released Hundreds of assaults have not been made known to the public, or that billions This is your brother in the faith, in the in 2016, to a system that still turns a blind eye to of dollars of taxpayers’ money is spent in funding CDCR. In CDCR’s attempt movement, in the trial and tribulations, I am the dispositional errors committed by the previous to preserve job positions for their staff, prisoners’ safety and lives have been Zuri Sana-Kabisa Young… I am a true and old institution. In my case, the STG nexus was erroneously valued at $64,000 - based on funding per year, per prisoner. [Attaining wealth] friend of the California Prison Focus, which applied to an RVR and based solely on a previous is their priority. This is a blatant violation of the 8th Amendment of cruel and was known as the Pelican Bay Information validation status, which is a clear violation of the Ashker unusual punishment, by not adhering to the required “Protection of Prisoners“ Project (1995). Agreement. Their argument involved “written material” from dangerous and overly restrictive conditions, [such as] Forced Transfers to I am the CEO-Founder-President of the not discovered in my possession, nor [did it] identify 50/50 facilities. California Civil Rights Unit (CRU)...I me within its wording in any way, shape or form. In Both objective and subjective requirements are met in the following Federal request that all factions within the prison addition, the single 1030 GI/ISU used [against me] was Care Law, Farmer v. Brennan, 511,U.S.825(1994), and in Wilson v. Seiter, yard population cease the violence against vague and consistent with the standard it has operated 501,U.S.294(1991). The deprivation of prisoner’ basic human needs and other prisoners who are similarly situated as under since “Castillo.” you are. Stop working for the police, sheriffs, exposure to serious harm has been documented... for over 6 months. Barney v. prison guards. Stop doing their dirty work: Every aspect has been overlooked Pulsipher, 143,F.3e,1299,1311(10th Cir.1998) also states that any serious harm stabbing, fighting, hating and stealing from in order to further their agenda to one’s health and safety, physically or psychologically, is a violation of our other prisoners. Regardless of what kind of at creating more funding rights. yard you are on. GP stop killing my movement. Knowing you are going to be harmed and or killed, has severe mental health opportunities. SNY stop killing my freedom. NDY. (Non- repercussions. Even more so with the prisoners in the mental health program. Designated Yard) stop killing my unity. What’s also being overlooked is the fact that the Helling v. McKinney shows these policies put prisoners at risk and injury… When CDCR puts abbreviated letters in their committee has the authority to “impose, suspend, or There is no doubt that once this reunification occurs, violence will ensue. This facilities to label you, stop letting that be the commute” any previous action in the interest of the policy is no different from the CDCR sanctioned Gladiator Fights at Corcoran reason you, plot-hate-and-kill your brother inmate’s liberty. State Prison in the 1990s. That was deemed an illegal act. This policy is far or sister. They planned to create division and During my committee hearing I expressed all the worse. This policy should also be deemed illegal… separatism when they started SNY in 1999. above and was denied an explanation with great fervor I have had many years of good behavior... Now, if I go to a 50/50 yard, I must They were never gonna protect you, they by the acting head. resume my violent behavior; Not by choice, but in order to remain alive. just allowed you to choose a side, kept you I’ve appealed each institution and action all the way Profit over lives cannot be tolerated or accepted... And for all those who can’t separated from your enemy and then when the to Sacramento and await their findings. However, since write like this, [I write] on their behalf as well. Sincerely, Anonymous. time was “right” bring you and him or them the courts are no longer overseeing the process, PBSP together to the place of battle. is back to its normal antics of abusing their authority Same Old Tactics That’s the truth - the real reason why they without recourse. The step down program (SDP) is also a joke. The Salaam Alaikum, My name* is Daniel Castro. I'm housed here at CSP/SAC. started non-designated yards...Strictly for course work is still elementary and could be assigned I've just read Prison Focus number 56 Summer 2018 and I concur. CDCR Armageddon to go to war and, they hope, for faster.. making one’s exit to a main line faster. does what they want. I've been doing prison time since 2004 and nothing has you to kill one another. The reason they want In addition, communication with staff is almost changed; Same tactics under a different guise. prisoners displaying violence is because of non-existent. Staff is comprised of new recruits who Each man and woman in this system fight a different fight, but it's the same all the new laws passing and coming out. The don’t understand the concept of an “open line of enemy. I commend you for publishing our voice. But at times, it appears you people’s Fair and Just Sentencing Reform Act communication,” as one is often met with snide remarks are pro general population, and SNY is downcast and frowned upon. I am an of 2018 would greatly define what crimes are and demeaning connotations, all in an effort to lure one SNY inmate because I was tired of prison politics, as for the years went by it has actually violent - having GBI (Great Bodily Injury), etc.. The statutory language of a violent into a confrontation and another RVR, thus setting one become evident that SNY is more dangerous. back in the SDP. New prison gangs have emerged. GP hates SNY, and SNY hates GP. It needs crime is no longer valid. They must prove somebody was hurt or injured by you. And non- With CDCR’s ten year plan to deem the SNY label to cease. I left GP because my group would not allow me to be Muslim. Contrary defunct, creating main line for all, they are systematically to what GP thinks of us, SNY is not lovely, we are not favored! I was forced into violent but serious crimes cannot be strikes under California’s Three Strikes law, which got and biasly segregating those they see as contrary to that a bad situation. I did not "debrief" or "tell" on old friends. I truly comprehend vision, on both sides of the wall. So, for the next two the struggle. I was there when the hunger strikes started, and now we "SNYs" us in this plantation. If you want to go home soon, join the CRU! years I’ll be here fighting CDCR at every turn. If my find ourselves in a new struggle. If GP thinks GP officers are corrupt, then they And if you can’t join us, don’t hate on us when interpretation of the Ashker Agreement is wrong, I’d love are not aware! SNY officers have gone rogue. we wreck the CCPOA and CDCR, as you know to hear from any of the core authors or representatives. I am an inmate litigator. I file 602s and fight against the system. In turn officers it. By Zuri Sana-Kabisa Young Love No Limit Un Solo Combatiente, Anonymous are utilizing STGs to victimize us rebels. What is happening on SNY [is] just Let My People Go! like the old Corcoran days. Green Wall is forcing us back into the gladiator days. Truth Equity At KVSP I was fabricated as an informant then fabricated as violent, then forced Personal Choices Greetings, I need* assistance in forcing the California to basically commit crimes (assaults) to defend life and liberty. * I know that some people see those in SNY in Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) I was forced back onto the yard and told "We don't give a fuck, go out there, a different light. staff to honor their own policies and regulations. and do what you got to do.” Inmates are being set up. I’ve tried to file with the I’m not a sex offender and neither did I snitch I declare that staff must cease the use of confidential court, the OIG and even the FBI for the taking place within the CDCR on anyone to get here. anonymous informant/debriefer allegations of illegal and what is known as the Green Wall. I will not stop my attack on corruption I got here because I got tired of the gang/ gang activity to deny inactive status, unless such within CDCR. Don’t get me wrong, there are some legit and law abiding officers criminal lifestyle I was living and so I walked allegations are also supported by factual corroborating here, but they are shut down from [speaking out] by Green Wall. away from the gang. As a result the gang tried evidence, in which case CDCR- New Folsom staff I have 60 days left on my SHU and soon as I go to the yard I feel that I am to kill me -stabbed me. That’s how I got to SNY. shall and must follow the regulations by issuing a rule going to be forced to carry more weapons and go to war with the STG guys That was the best decision of my life, because violation report and affording the inmate his due process who are “agents of the Green Wall.” I was GP for years and I keep it real. No to me a gang member is a social parasite. I required by law. one is absent of some sort of “activity” unless you change. We all must break detest the person I was, and regret all those bad CSP-SAC staff must cease their use of their recently away from these subgroups if we want freedom.There is no room for these decisions I made that got me to be the criminal exposed NSA Spy Program. This is beyond any “compartments” as far as it remains it should be inmates (politikal prisoners) I was, but most of all, all that resulted in a reasonable dispute a violation of the Fourth Amendment. vs. prison industrial complex. Until then, prison officials will put us up against homicide of a human being. I wish that I could Dear Prison Focus I just want to shed the light one another. take it all back, but I cannot, and that hurts. That where there is dark. We the people together are the only I do not wish to remain anonymous, so that my komrades know it’s okay to tragedy occurred when I was 22 years old, in “justice of equity.” Our union is equivalent to the “truth come forward. Let it be known that I am a fighter, and hey, thank you for your 1988. I’m 52 years old man now. I have not use equity,” the living form of a law that protects. Let me support! Daniel (Filo) Castro. Power to the People. drugs or alcohol since that night. Anonymous remain Anonymous.

8 PRISON FOCUS

By Michael Russell told me that they looked into any new activity that I might Snitchin and Bitchin be involved with, but my name doesn’t come up!! WTF?! * * Unreliable Information for Personal Gain Used to Deny Parole I told them that I thought I was back here for a “Safety Concern,” not an “Activities” investigation?!... I’ve been on I do hope that your a GP Mainline for four years now... I don’t have a history publication manages to of assaultive behavior or any other negative actions towards get the word out because I me or anything!! I’m not a problematic person, however, am still in the process of fully now all of a sudden, because of a 1030 that is protected by abolishing the every means Dear CPF, I enjoyed your a veil of confidentiality that will not be pierced by cross used and manipulated by article on the Confidential examination or confrontation, I am stuck in the hole, on a inmates to use CDCR 1030s Information (CI), Summer single cell status, bruising my brain, trying to find my way and CDCR 128-Bs against 2018. I have never heard to get out of this arbitrary classification determination of other inmates as a mere means of staff authoring a 1030 “Safety Concerns”!!... Since they cannot tie me to any [gang] to personally gain from doing so on an inmate. That was an "activities" to keep me in the hole, is this “Safety Concern” and with virtually no substance or eye opener. I have always then, fabricated or what?! According to these people, I’m still corroboration in making their wide Artwork by Michael believed that the CI practice is active...It just don’t add up!! variety of claims. CDCR senior staff DouglasTaylor outrageous and unfair. Many .Anyways, I withdrew my 602 because they told me that, are also abundantly aware that most men in here agree. How can anyone just go up to an officer “No matter what, even if the information is found to be of these inmates do what they do as and give them information about you? Many times without false, it’s still being alleged and I have to go to the DRB... a perpetration against the otherwise or contrary to truths. any merit. Four guys are sitting back here, from the same yard, going Though it is because the CDCR is liable if they fail to take Being incarcerated in a Level 4 prison, I constantly see on 4-5 months now, without 115’s...These guys really don’t action and something happens to the “liar” that is making know how to communicate in English and there are “No” officers conducting cell searches because of information such claims against another inmate. I hope you made agree Spanish Title 15’s anywhere to be found!! One of the guys, received. I have been a victim of this practice myself. I’ll that these something very well aren’t to be done to put a stop after 90 days, received a new lock up order alleging “Safety be candid, there are times when this information is legit, but to these deliberately false perpetrations. seven out of ten times, it’s meritless. The 1030 still goes into Concerns” because a “Confidential” is alleging that these I also wish to place a minimal emphasis that I am not our C-file even if nothing is found. guys are now targeted by the STG1. Both of these guys are reporting this abuse because I have been the victim of these Things have changed due to the Ashker settlement because back here without 115’s, were placed on Non-Disciplinary slanderous and fabricated confidential “he said” type of lying. eight, ten years ago, that 1030 was sufficient evidence to place Status, (DNS) - like a lot of us -, and missed their parole I am doing this because I know a guy here who is really trying us in Administrative Segregation pending an investigation. dates!! By the way, they have removed everyone from NDS to improve his life and ready himself for the Board of Parole Again, even if we were released for lack of evidence, the because we’re either pending DRB or [as they tell us] we Hearings and he just received three clear out-of-the-blue and 1030 was not discarded; it remains the same today. did “something” to get ourselves in trouble. So basically defiantly false confidential frequent flyer type disclosures. It sucks for those of us who have actually changed our we’re all back here in the hole without 115’s and because lifestyle and are involved in positive programming. I hear of “Confidential Information” allegations!! They aren’t even letting us sign Safety Concern Waivers - and like I’ve End to All Hostilities or Prisoner Warfare? the same story being reiterated from these men who have * said, I’ve been here two years participating in almost every [In the newly merged on-Designated yards] as expected, spent decades in prison and have been disciplinary free five program available without incident... violence erupted. The CDCR knew what would happen and yet or more years, gone before the Parole Board and are denied .In any case though, I have been trying to help the guys they still did it and will continue to move forward in forcing the because of a 1030 from years ago. On several occasions, here, with what little sense I think I have, where putting disaster. No good can come from it, yet there is an opportunity staff never even took action on this information to check you in the hole is a form of punishment and as a result of for the entire prisoner class to show...who will choose what if it was credible. Instead the 1030 was just placed in our being a punishment it is subject to the 8th Amendment truly matters: a genuine end to all hostilities or mass prisoner C-file. I understand the protocol, but the fact remains that standard. Right?! And in as how the punishment is enforced warfare? this unreliable information continues to deny us parole. could violate Due Process. Right?! If they are not charging Coerced Debriefing Fortunately, I have never been to the SHU; but I have been you with any acts of misconduct, (RVR’s- 115’s), how can * able to speak with a lot of men who spent decades in there they punish you, with segregation and isolation?! If there “I’m a validated inmates in the the Wasco State Prison and the CI practice was coercive; The only way to get out of is nothing other than a confidential’s word, how then can hole/SHU. I’ve been validated [for over a decade] and I just solitary confinement was to debrief,. Staff did not care if this they just accept that as fact and subject you to an arbitrary came back on a new CDC number. But this time trying to information was legit. They were satisfied as long as they Classification Determination?! I thought that circumstantial go SNY. The crazy part is they won’t allow me to unless I received some information on a validated member. Many of evidence, cannot be based on an inference drawn from facts give up information!! I’m wondering if you may have info on these men were already in the SHU because of unreliable which are uncertain or speculative and only raise a conjecture this process because this is all new to me. I try asking [staff] information to begin with, and now they were being asked to of possibility... questions but I always get the run around.” say something about someone else so they can get out. .Anyone at any given time can speculate about any I know CPF probably gets numerous letters and are asked number of scenarios that could possibly occur. However, a * Upholding Justice in the Land of Life, Liberty a thousand plus questions, but if there is any information that reasonable inference may not be based on suspicion alone, or and the Pursuit of Happiness you guys can include in an upcoming issue as to the future of imagination, speculation, supposition, surmise, conjecture, or "In a government designed on the principles of the the CI practice would be very helpful. Are there any changes guess work, which is exactly what’s happening here!! I just Enlightenment to set people free, freedom now comprises the wish I knew more and had the resources to do more, but as it in the future? Is any organization working to get rid of the freedom to find someone to work for, who will profit off of is, I’m struggling to help myself, and believe me, records will practice or at least discard of the 1030 if it is unreliable? your labor. Equality means if you have the money to be equal. reflect, I was really doing some Paw-sitive Programing Please keep us up to date, thank you. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” is for those who If this bit of info of what’s happening here can help change make it to upper layers of the pyramid, by whatever means Continued Misuse of Confidential them Confidential policies and afford us more Due Process * in confronting and cross-examining, then I hope for the best. necessary. And this whole time someone is there, upholding Information Respectfully submitted, Anonymous justice, making sure that everyone is doing what they are Hello there, Good People...I am a DRB SHU Kick Out who told." Philip was released to the GP Mainline in 2014. DRB had initially Reflections On This Thing Called Equality place me in the 4th step of the Step Down Program in 2012. * We are all human and we are all equal as humans. Costumes that humans make and titles that they give themselves mean Upon completion of the 4th step, I was endorsed to the GP nothing and have no true authority over any other humans. Just because someone calls themself a “cop” and calls their Mainline at NKSP, Delano. Here, I was supposed to do a year costume a “uniform” does not make them better than any other human. In most cases cops are worse because they commit on Monitored Status, as was mandated by the SDP, 5th step. the same crimes they imprison others for, and do not hold themselves accountable. Every day cops are assaulting people both I ended up doing two years, which was ok because I was able to obtain my GED, and I also received a certificate in physically and sexually. They’re killing people. They’re making false arrests, which is kidnapping, and constantly giving false “Parenting”. At that time programming was minimal. testimony. They are quick to assault, arrest and testify against anyone but themselves. They fabricate paperwork and lead ....Upon my arrival at Wasco, I was assigned a job…that I people to believe all kinds of nonsense and falsehoods by giving themselves titles like “gang expert”. maintained for over a year, without incident,I and participated Why is it that if I assault someone I am charged with assault and multiple enhancements? If a cop assaults you and puts you in numerous self-help rehabilitative classes... I was doing so in the hospital, the cop or cops are not charged with anything. If you somehow scratched one of these cops by trying to block good!!... their repeated blows to your head, they may charge you with assault on a police officer and testify against you... Inside the On August I was placed in the Ad-Seg Unit based upon jails it’s even worse. Cops are constantly picking fights with inmates, beating the crap out of them and then charging them. “Confidential” information received from another prison, They like to do this with inmates they think are gang members while they treat sex offenders and PCs [those in protective alleging “Safety Concerns”!! Supposedly, I was asked to custody] like they’re cool. Cops have been conducting gang activity for a long time. The only difference is that cops don’t get a transfer back to Pelican Bay to kill somebody!! Since charge themselves or each other with these crimes. They don’t testify against themselves or each other. I refused, it’s alleged that I may now possibly be targeted!! Cops are not forced to tell on each other but inmates are constantly being denied parole for not “debriefing” or telling on What’s funny is the fact that I have not been around the two other inmates. This is complete nonsense and just another excuse to keep a good man down. Why is it that they create men, who allegedly asked me for the favor “owed”, in any so many obstacles and make up any excuse not to let a general population inmate go home...? They are focused on not letting way to know each other like that...Don’t make sense right?! out GP inmates because they got into a fight with another inmate or because they refuse to tell or testify against other inmates. Still though, what’s funnier is the fact that sometime in June/ Something is very wrong here. July of 2018, one specific person locked up, who apparently was also validated and a SHU Kick Out under the Ashker Inmates are constantly being denied parole for not “debriefing” or telling on other inmates. Settlement...After he left, certain cells and people started getting raided. In fact one morning in July, [at] about 3 or 4 These new laws that have been passed are left up to CDC discretion. The people did not vote for that. CDC makes up their am, a calculated raid occurred where there were literally over own rules and regulations, and they make up their own excuses to find you ineligible. You have to be clear of certain 115s for 100 IGI and other Gang and Drug Investigators from other five years; You have to be this, you have to be that. This is not equality. It’s complete nonsense - complete tyranny. institutions doing searches!! Dogs included!!...Why now, all Just because they do not charge themselves or each other for their does not change the fact that of a sudden are there 1030’s being dropped?! Why now, all of they repeatedly commit the same crimes they imprison others for. Why are they not locked in a cell? Why do they get away a sudden, are the IGI all in my mix?! with murder - somehow considered justifiable? If I stab someone in self defense, I am charged with attempted murder and It confuses me because they snatched me up from where gang enhancement. The D.A. will try to get me life in prison. But if a cop is having a bad day and shoots me in the face, it I was programming consistently for the past two years, on will be considered justified. This is not equality. People need to realize that in many cases cops are worse than the so-called some alleged Confidential Information and “Safety Concern” “criminals” they imprison. People need to realize that cops, COs, prison officials, etc., all use terms like criminal, gang allegations… It seemed as though they were more concerned member or violent offender, in order to give a harsh perception of someone. In reality these same words can be used to about [gang] “activity” rather than anything else. They describe them. Thank you, yours truly, The Light ISSUE 57 9 * Who’s Fault? Pelican Bay because they couldn't fortify their SHU-endorsement. As * Safety and Opportunity for Sex Offenders By Michael Taylor their only alternative, they finally had to reach back to a jail “If you have a good paying job and are a sex offender here is a thundering silence, an immediate dread and a escape and assert that I was a "security risk" in the State's No. you’ll be threatened and or beat up if you don’t quit and let a helpless shroud of fear that you just can't shake upon 1 doublemax, state-of-the-art, 10 level security, underground guy with good paperwork get that pay. entering into the midnight arrival at the Pelican Bay censored, heavy metal "crash-gated," strategically placed Don’t people know that Protective Custody started due to T gun towers and monitored, electric fences, and praised by the State Prison. high powered Rats “Informants” on to child molesters and sex As I sat there in a paper jumpsuit amongst thirty plus PBSP Spokesman as a "virtually escape-proof" prison. offenders? These people can’t make it on a mainline and as it others rolling through the security gates that rainy night, I It took me four months to convince a Del Norte Superior is have been targeted here on SNY. You know sex offenders looked at the faces of young and old prisoners, confirmation Court judge that my placement in segregation and the SHU of any type will be a targets. Especially if transferred to one enough that I wasn't the only CDC-rider with grave concerns was uncalled for. The Court released me to Facility-A recently changed from GP to NDF. for what waits ahead. mainline. Mule Creek State Prison was/is known to have its share I was transferred to Pelican Bay as a direct housing In Segregation/SHU there were virtually no programs. As of sex offenders. On the website it said 75% or 80% of the placement in Segregation, didn't even have a rules violation a prisoner, there is an established minimal requirement as population, not to mention transgenders [also at risk]. Yet report, just locking me up in segregation, and a month later to what we are authorized to do or to have. Not permitting they have no programs for sex offenders. I have a question into the SHU, only because the CDC claimed I was an those reflects that we were all just viewed as dogs, something and staff and counselors to no avail. So where is the rehab for less than human beings. There was no education, vocation, advocate they did not want on their mainline, any where's. the sex offenders, CDCR?” The next thing I noticed on that bus entering the prison, no assignments, religious programs, no one to talk to, and was the absence of grass, no trees or plant life. The only nothing to do all day. In far too numerous of realities, our * Trying to Break Our Spirits difference in the prison grounds was the dissimilar textures families and friends can't make a trip from as far as San Prisoners in New Folsom PSU have minimal contact with of loose gravel and larger stones. Diego (or from Chicago) to Crescent City, so visits are few the outside world, other prisoners, friends or family, and The prison rolled by, fence after fence, and there were no to none. There were no telephones and the mail takes 7 to 10 receive little to no medical or mental health care, but we sure windows whatsoever in the buildings (we certainly aren't in days to get in to us (regardless of 2nd day priority). do have an overwhelming remarkable amount of physical Kansas any longer, Toto!). This is Pelican Bay State Prison, This was all just degrading and absolutely dehumanizing. contact with guards. Much of this contact occurs during built by state contractors with stringently cruel design, at the Because I had experienced this myself, I had went through assaultive cell extractions, which are conducted if a prisoner California taxpayers tune of $224 million, just twenty miles all the-changes of sensory deprivation: sleepless nights, refuses to be harassed, intimidated or wear restraints which from the Oregon State border, along the California coast irrational . and great depression from all that prolonged are painful, such as small handcuffs squeezed on too tight or in its total isolation. A CDC spokesman vindicates PBSP's isolation. leg irons that scrape the skin off our ankles when forced to designed state-of-the-art security and its intended isolation We may have violated state law, but to treat us this way and walk a far distance. Some prisoners don’t want to be set up as essential to warehousing the system's "worst of the worst." push us to the brink of madness isn't the answer!’ by guards who pay off PC prisoners to attack other prisoners. This is the SHU (Security Housing Unit [1,056 cell Pelican Bay was no "joke" at all. Also if a prisoner leaves out of his cell, guards will claim multi— sectioned control units]). The CDC has incorporated we have no privacy rights and will secretly intrude [on] your significant forethought into far-reaching consequences, * Still in Segregated Housing for legal papers, your rap lyrics, tamper with food, etc. and ravish which alone indicates that the blueprints were on the table Challenging the System one’s living quarters. long before the public even authorized its mega-greenback Hello CPF Staff, May this letter find you all in good Sometimes prisoners who lack education and have mental spendings. As well, CDC strategists realize that projects such health and in good humor. I want to thank you for caring and illness might refuse to return a food tray, kick the cell door as building more prisons to "make the streets safer," wouldn't fighting the good fight for justice for all.... or throw excrement at the guards. In these situations, the be the only first or last of the "okey dokey" paid for by the We all have to do our part small or big. I meet young assaultive cell extraction retaliation is much more flagrant. California taxpayers. men coming into the prison system and they’re put in Ad- Prisoners who are targeted by guards are more likely The officers are oriented into job duties designating zero Seg or SHU. Being older it’s my responsibility to help them attacked while in their handcuffs by other prisoners while tolerance, shoot to kill, fault finding and overreaching, and challenge injustice the right way with 602’s, etc.. being escorted to an EOP (Enhanced Outpatient Program) whom all agree that dealing with "troublemakers requires I’m in the step down program... Within the next few weeks mental health appointment or group. Sometimes when we are such security requirements." me and my cellie both should advance to step 4, which means to the point that we notify the staff that we feel suicidal, I have The CDC asserts that the worst of the worst include multi- if all goes well we will be allowed to go back to a mainline been left nearly naked outside at 10:30pm-6:00am shivering race institutional gang members or inmates who have been in six months. But during this time we are not allowed the in an outdoor cage for hours at a time. They are trying to found guilty of assaulting other inmates and guards. privileges of food , walking to the showers un-cuffed break our spirits. A more realistic appraisal confirms that the CDC is lockin or eating our meals in the day room. These are little things down inmates whom they feel as a threat, however defined to get us men ready for the mainline group settings. We * Treating Mental Health Problems with and to whatever dimensions, to their prison operational plans. don’t get none of that. We are just kept in a SHU building, Excessive Use of Force The PBSP Classification Committee is responsible for therefore we have nothing coming even though we’re not Use of a chemical agent which includes pepper spray has reviewing inmate housing and program assignments. The doing a SHU [term] - all because we’re challenging [the been illegal since 1979 Spain vs. Procunier (9th cir. 1979) committee makes the decision sometimes with a propensity system] for the men who are in step 1 and 2, so they can 600 F. 2d 189. The Ninth Circuit reaffirmed its illegality in for and , and with all the latitude it desires. have it a little better once they reach step 3 and 4. Thank you excessive use in 2013. Furnace v. Sullivan (9th cir. 2013) Inmates classified as troublemakers include prison all for your hard work and for caring! 705 F. 3d. In this same year (2013), CDCr modified its policy gang members, jailhouse lawyers, grievance/writ writers In the struggle together for humanity and equal justice, on use of pepper spray on the mentally ill after an inmate who assist other inmates, political activists, inmates with Anonymous sprayed with this chemical agent died at Mule Creek State leadership qualities showing any sign of defiance, and the Prison. But CDCr guards are still spraying prisoners during list goes on and on into total frivolity. * The Damage is Scary cell extractions and altercations. They have been justifying Jailhouse lawyerism is always met with the greatest of Dear Prison Focus, ...Our storm in solitary confinement for their “immediate” use as “situational.” Calif. prisoners hostilities from jail and prison managers. They don't like years has come to an end. Hunger strikes and all. I experienced should be aware that their actions are illegal and they can the fact that the Supreme Court provides prisoners access [that] at a young age. Now once again in the hole and to be sue. They also should know that they can fill-out a CDCR- 1824 Reasonable Accommodation Form (ADA.) and ask for to the Courts, the very forum to hear the issues of when totally honest I missed it. The damage it created upon not a Chrono prohibiting the use of pepper spray on them if they inmates are abused, beaten, wrongly punished, set up, and wanting to deal with society (mainline), or just don’t grasp have contraindicative health issues. just the hundreds of ways that the CDC mistreats the prisoner how to, is what’s scarier. I’ll be doing at 35 a month SHU so population. The Court does not allow us to be treated with I’ll stay in touch. Respectfully, Juan such cruel afflictions that would really quite shock the * Surviving CHCF “Something is fundamentally wrong with CHCF medical consciousness of even the most uncompassionate. care!...Patients who remain silent stay alive for a while but Those who haven't experienced the SHU can't quite Militarization of California * receive little or no treatment care.” recognize or comprehend it. A lot of this is political revenge, I wish to comment on the excellent commentary and retaliation under the color of authorities having their way insightful truths written by California Prison Focus in their with abusing inmate rights around the clock; Daily, nightly report about the physical abuse and retaliation in California Speaking Up A stream of consciousness* sheds light… and month after month. State Prisons. “...solely to stop me from seeking outside court These classification decisions, often based on manufactured As a recidivist prisoner of this California Industrial interventions and oversight of staff, RN, nurses mental health claims or bogus CDC 1030s, are rarely challengeable by Complex for the past 50 years, I have seen it all, been where assigned clinicians who’ve violated Coleman Armstrong inmates. And both the prison's Classification Hearings and it all took place at the times it was happening. other settlements. They are instructing other inmates to Board of Prison Hearings panelist realize such decisions The report stated facts to all that society [about abuses that] attack me for payment. drugs. sex lewd acts. Not to by often have significant long term ramifications, from changes our lawmakers are allowing to happen. If one wishes to know any means, be exposed to outside sources...cellular phone in housing to Board of Prison Hearings denials ranging from the standards, principles, morals and ethics of its state, visit inside (and hear from those inside) its prison system. hookup access on the down low. As well, photographic taking 3, 5, and sometimes even 15 years. of inmates as lewd satisfaction controlled by gangbanger Every Legislator and Judiciary of the State of California is According to one PBSP Information Officer, a Lieutenant, enforcers. Slavery practiced at all levels...I was taken out quite aware of the assaults, the abuse, the inciting of violence an individual cannot go from conviction directly to the SHU. of the Enhanced Outpatient Program (EOP) higher level of and the rest of it. How do you think these crimes are able to They have to commit a SHU-able offense, or any offense mental health for speaking up, blowing the whistle on high continue in our Nation? This is the Prisons [seen] in their whatsoever. I’m not affiliated with any gangs, do not use or up clinicians bringing in phones, drugs, engaging in sex, on SocioPathic/Psychopathic Minds. They see [prisons] as traffic drugs or cellular phones, don't possess contraband. sex to mental health inmates...Placement in When I arrived to the Chino Correctional facility on a bus conducive to punishing the “incorrigible" slaves. We are to isolation soley for filing a complaint - taken off psychotropic from the L.A. Co. Jail, directly from conviction, I was placed be the test dummies... Every abusive tactic that’s being used medications when stacks of records and extensive other in the Palm-Hall segregation side of the building, and the on prisoners is being used in society because California is files offer supporting history of my bipolar manic depressive Classification Committee told me I was a "Sleeper" and gradually - yet faster than in other states - being militarized... mood swings symptoms of schizophrenia…Physically was to be housed in segregation until transferred to Pelican Saturday Sept 29, 2018 Avenal State Prison had a riot. attacked at ICC Tehachapi - I lay down already handcuffed Bay. A month later I was transferred to the Bay where I was The news stations said one person was shot. I will bet you savagely beaten for half hour by many peace officers, housed in the Segregation Unit. A month went by and the a dime-to-a-donut that riot was behind this, nonsense about slammed into concrete pavement. Picked up again by two PBSP Classification Committee reviewed me and said I was “Non-Designated” Yard facilities. This is another means to guards. Slammed again, forced into wall headfirst. All for going to the SHU. When I asked them why, they told me that militarize the CDCR System, [via] having integrated/incited refusing to be sexually targeted by freak female staff who I was a "public defender." Asking them how long they could prison riots; It’s a draconian, manipulative scheme unseen got to have lewd sex-humiliation entertainment to occupy keep me in the SHU, they claimed, "Ohh, for the rest of by the mass of society. Watch and Listen!! In Sincerity and their eight hour shifts sometimes over 16 hours…” your life!" This caused some discontent with PBSP officials Solidarity, Anonymous

10 PRISON FOCUS * A Lack of Compassion even know walk up and without provocation, attack them. "I had a few of the guys read this and they also wanted me Last month, a young man, 28 years old, mentally ill inmate You would have to know justice to continue to pursue an to mention the heater here doesn’t work and we’re freezing. committed suicide by hanging himself…Almost 6 hours later appeal after experiencing such corruption, but dozens of Also they just house anyone with anyone in this jail. Here I he was finally extracted from his cell. prisoners get discouraged from fear, and this is how the LT am fighting a 3-Strikes case, been to prison multiple times and Since then it’s been covered up. Swept under the carpet… and those referenced believe a prison should operate. they put a kid in my cell that has never even been to jail before. The most tragic part of this whole senseless act is this I have begun helping some of these victimized prisoners In any other county jail, they separate you by your status. incident could have been prevented. get justice from filing civil rights complaints in the Southern “All in all this jail is violating so many different situations At 1 am he had reached out to [the] staff unit guard for help. district court (see Jones v. Palamd, Case number: 18-LV- here and no one knows how to go about getting help or they’re Five times, and each time he was ignored. Yes he told them OZOY9-LAB-JMA), others to follow. I am concerned about scared because of the repercussions from the officers. I hope he was stressed and depressed - felt suicidal. being framed on a set up charge by one of these dirty COs. you can help us. It would be much appreciated. The problem is the lack of respect and compassion. This is It’s amazing RJD has been operating like a prison in a psych unit. 95% of us [are] on medication. Mexico or where there’s no constitution or civil rights for * Because I’m Proactive, prisoners, and even more, it is a that CDCR, RJD’s Deputies Punish me * Within RJD State Prison use of force committee members or one of these CDCR Hello, I'm in custody at Santa Rita Jail and have spent Dear Prison Focus investigative agencies hasn’t identified a pattern practice. I long periods of time in Ad-Seg for being a political activist, I had to write concerning the story you exposed about mean for example, same COs or group of COs are always and retaliated against for standing up for my rights by Richard J. Donovan because everything disclosed or alleged involved in use of force incidents or a high number of a filing grievances...I'm not even given specific reasons for is true. I am currently here in Corcoran, out to court from RJD. particular CO involvement in the use of force incidents, or being put in the “Hole” at first. Nor do deputies ever allow I have been meaning to write to you but worry over sending it even extent of force used and injuries sustained as a result. me a hearing to contest my placement. [It’s] because I’m out in the mail discouraged me, and now seemed best. Should anyone reenact circumstances or events described in proactive, deputies punish me - and for unfair periods of I hope you would consider more exposure of conditions and many of the CDCR 847s they’ll see a pattern where: time… Deputies and staff also ignore my requests to be given treatment, as well as some understanding or reason as to what Despite how aggressive, combative, or with supernatural a copy of my Disciplinary Reports. The jail’s grievance the problem is, and how CDCR officials could not know that behaviors COs allege in reports, the prisoner is always the procedures/department is a total farce. I’m now waiting to there’s a serious problem at RJD. one recorded as injured see if the Alameda County Sheriffs Office Internal Affairs There are a variety of SNY gangs like Independent Riders Circumstances or events described in COs reports don’t Unit in Oakland will step in and take my many complaints (IR), Flight Squad, Gay Boy Gangsters (GBG), Two Fivers explain or justify the injuries sustained by the prisoner seriously. Respectfully, Anonymous (25), Blood Money Gang, to name a few, who are in over In all reports COs are sure to use language of “feared for familiar union with COs who work the yard, the prisoners their safety” and how they “gave orders for the prisoners to Speak up, Speak Out who make up these gangs are men rejected from society to stop and/or comply but he refused.” * By Arthur G. Jones Sr. be claimed by a prison system, then subsequently rejected by These people described truly believe in Mexico, it’s It is not the time that prisoners should be waging war with the prison general population to SNY where they celebrate traditions, people, and values over CDCR, which uses each other. Nor should we be taking up armed struggle. We gangs for protection, they constantly recruit new arrivals to cultural centric beliefs to circumvent any rights of a must learn that prisoners must not prey on other prisoners maintain numbers. 90% are drug addicts and use the gang’s prisoner. Taxpayer dollars should not be used to pay COs to with exploitive practices that result in the beefs that go muscle to maintain drugs for the gang users. These make be criminals, so if there is anything you can do or that I can beyond prison yards and effect more than just the local up the prisoners, and are allowed to live off stealing other help you do to expose the naked truth, not only about RJD factions. prisoners’ property. but also why RJD is like it is and who’s responsible, then The COs are organized criminals who use CDCR and please let me know ASAP! Prisoners must consider the conditions working knowledge of its operations as a Halloween of the entire class in which it is rooted, costume to hide the face of realist terrorists and if director * Retaliation Kathleen Allison or the world don’t know it then please be "If RJD officials know I'm exposing them they will and decide in what direction it, as a well aware that RJD has been taken over and operates off surely kill me or have me killed." Anonymous whole, will move. organized criminal as well as cultural central practices. These The state understood the importance of stemming the tide practices are imposed and maintained by a group of Hispanic Grievances Against * with the tactic of division, thus a line was drawn between correctional officials who don’t hide their distaste for CDCR the Amador County Jail, in Jackson, CA. the and the prisoner just trying to do their policies, the constitution, or the human rights of prisoners. ● The Law Library. The only ones that are allowed to use time and get back to what they knew as freedom. The latter [These officers] make up the most dishonest and sadistic the law library are the ones that are Pro-Per, and then they wanted nothing to do with the former, as these old-timer officials currently assigned post positions at this facility, make them go out at 4:00 a.m. to a room that is so cold you political prisoners were viewed as extreme in their ideas and where these officials often work 16 hour shifts together, can see your breath. objectives. The former, on the other hand, wanted nothing several days a week. They’re bound by some cultural belief ● Non-private attorney visits. (a) The attorney visits to do with the latter, who at each turn of the page began to on how a prison should be ran, and on a bold willingness to here are not private due to the fact [that] if another person appear as a type of foreman, respecting the privileges and lie or out-maneuver state investigations and/or disciplinary is getting a visit he can hear everything going on, plus they rewards for the good behavior of not upsetting the system. process. Some of these officials are even rumored to have ties have family group/AA/church going on at times and they Even to this day, these lines are the principal contradiction and loyalties to a Mexican mafia. can hear everything. (b) Also when we go to court there is between the prisoner mass and the few political leaders. COs have been allowed by their supervisors to: a visiting room adjacent to a large holding cell. Now when Use the gym on the facility as an arena where after restrained [you] go in there and talk to your attorney, everyone in the with handcuffs, and more than likely burning from Pepper The day of solidarity is rooted in holding cell can hear your conversation. (c) Plus the officer a reality that prisoners must at Spray, COs and others beat, punch, kick, and stomp a slew has a little podium station 5ft. away from the door and he of restrained prisoners, using the gym isolation where these can also hear everything. (Also, they have opened my legal some points and time, for a specific COs placed bags over all cameras inside to torture, abuse, and mail without me being present!) frame of time, put to the side their torment helpless prisoners. Supervisory officials then initiate ● No emergency buttons in the cells. At night if you’re differences in order to pool the the bogus CDCR incident crime reports describing that the in your cell by yourself and have a heart attack or serious energy and resources for the causes prisoner attacked these COs as hostile and uncontrollable injury or emergency, you’re as good as dead. There is no that contribute to tearing down this with supernatural behaviors warranting COs to use force. way to contact help if you ever have the need to do so. system as they know it. However, upon inspection, the CDCR reports don’t explain ● Nail clippers. They use to sell nail clippers on the or justify injuries recorded on many of the prisoners medical canteen. For whatever reason they took them off canteen and And after that, if they want to go back to their state of reports of injuries. now charge $3.00 for you to get your nails cut by the nurse. parasitic lifestyles, then they can take it up with the people. Maintain special relationships with some gang members ● The grievance process. This process is a joke around where COs order and arrange for these SNY gang members here. It takes an act of God to get a Grievance Form from When Is Enough Enough? to jump, 2-4 on one and then have access to their victim’s the officers in the first place. One time my cell mate found Previously* last two BPH I was called out and was not personal property as reward. COs typically have prisoners a pair of glasses in his oatmeal. For two days he asked for a told what it was for and it ended up being a forensic psych attacked for filing a 602 on the wrong CO or issue, child Grievance Form. By the time they gave it to him, he filled it evaluation, and those reports were negative because I didn’t abuse or sexual charge on record, and in some cases COs lied out and when he turned it in, they laughed at him and said, show [parole] plans or support letters. This time I will be to manufacture sex charge information, permit SNY gang “It’s too late. You have to turn it in within 48 hours.” ready... members to arrange one on one fights in the pocket, which is a ● The Food. These meals are delivered by a company ...The last two Board Parole Hearing commissioners denied dirtied blind spot area in front of the building. The entire yard, called Aramark and they make a lot of different meals all me because they want me to debrief... [They also cited] COs especially, then watch a 2-5 minute fight in silence while of which are barely passing the nutritional amounts if the an article I wrote...They did not recognize my educational mental health staff are so scared of COs retaliation methods trays are full, which they never are... And they don’t fulfill program accomplishments...It cost me 6 years. I could have that they pretend not to see or know anything. the nutritional requirements we are supposed to be getting. been paroled 6 years ago... Violence is daily but there are no alarms in RJD. All SNY The Public Defender’s Office. This office is a joke and This is the reason why prisons are crowded and old gang members need to do is let COs know in advance that should actually be investigated criminally. Everyone goes prisoners are still in prison. Anonymous (Enslaved for over a fight is scheduled. COs even boasts of betting money on through 2 or 3 lawyers before they get sentenced so the 30 years in solitary confinement) these prisoner fights; these COs have been allowed to use the whole time you’re getting new attorneys that don’t know described malfeasance as a weapon to intimidate, bully, and your case and the next thing you know, you’re going to trial A Fight Worth Fighting control a prison population, for it is well known throughout with a new attorney who doesn’t even know your case. "I understand* the attacks on the brutality and other corrupt the RJD population that [certain] COs will take you to the ● Cleaning hazardous waste. When it comes to blood or aspects of the prison system and it’s a fight worth fighting, but gym to beat you if you say or do something they don’t like. It feces being spilled, all they do is grab a mop and have a we must work on fighting to change the judicial system as doesn’t matter if you are in a wheelchair, a walker, or crutches. trustee clean it up. Then the mop goes right back into use a whole." RJD operates like this on a daily basis and has been for throughout the jail. I’m from Santa Clara County and they Complete Liberation a [long] time. Some Lieutenants (LT) groom subordinates bring in a HAZMAT team to clean this kind of stuff up. I "Always remember* that once you join the struggle you on how to circumvent CDCR methods of investigating don’t know what the legal process is but I don’t think just must embrace it wholeheartedly that you should not expect misconduct by being dishonest. Peace officers knowingly file mopping it up and putting the mop right back in use is the anything in return but complete liberation. Freedom is reports to cover up a host of criminal civil rights violations... right way to do things. everything; Prison is nothing." When prisoners manage to fill a 602 appeal it is assigned to ● They don’t use our inmate welfare fund for us. The Professor (Emeritus) Mike Keys a LT or some other supervisor who either shares the same books in the library are all donated, most of them are falling cultural centric practices and beliefs or is too afraid to go apart, the board games we get maybe once a year. It took us against such practices. Either way, some prisoners they don’t 4 months to get new board games this last time. ISSUE 57 11 The Origins of Slavery...... Continued from page 1 * A Pathetic and Reprehensable Reality * What’s Happening Needs to Stop and the lessees were not at the prison. “It is pretty difficult (Tempered with Optimism) By Eric Clemmons to find out who are the lessees or, indeed, whether or not Greetings, California salaries for CDC guards are the My name is Eric. I was born and raised in St. Louis, but for the past 34 years I have been in prison in Missouri. I have been there are any,” the inspectors wrote in their report. Where highest in the nation. CDC’s budget increased 500% since in the Southeast Correctional Center at Charleston, Missouri were the convicts? Almost as soon as James’ prison factory 1981! This budget is more than or as much as the combined for seven years now. When I was 21, I was sentenced to 50 was running, he’d abandoned it. He’d discovered that he budget total of every state prison. My efforts to be positive in outlook are stifled as regards to the conventional authorities years without the possibility of parole for killing a young could make a lot more money subcontracting his prisoners man who was trying to rob my younger brother. I did not to labor camps, where they were made to work on levees continued promulgation to the public about reforms and that the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) is improving. I believe have a prior record. and railroads. A convict doing levee and railroad work cost this to be bogus hype because and again, reminder, Very few people have any idea what it is like to be one‑twentieth the labor of a wage worker. California’s GDP, according to the news I hear (BBC), is the incarcerated for decades. Here is what doing time is like Some in Louisiana’s Reconstruction legislature tried to sixth largest of the world’s nations economies. The bottom over the course of a day. Doing time is not easy. One would rein in James. In 1875, it forbade convict labor from being line reason for this is the humongous profit that is generated imagine that as the years go by it would get easier. It is really used outside prison walls—senators and representatives were in total by the PIC in California. What a Potemkin Village the opposite. With time and preparation comes maturity. concerned it would deprive their constituents of jobs—but is visited upon us and unfortunately few resist, swallowing With the maturity of finding yourself and understanding James disregarded the ban and kept his labor camps going. A hook, line and sinker. some of your purpose of being on Earth, the opportunities Baton Rouge district attorney sued James for nonpayment of to fulfill this purpose can not be realized here. My daily life his lease. James ignored him and made no payment for the Thus the prisoner slaves are is spent in perpetual constraint. I have been in a maximum security setting this entire time. After 33 years I am treated next six years. He had become untouchable. the bottom line resource that Samuel L. James recorded more about how he himself as a freshly sentenced 19 year old that has no respect for maintains the budget strength of self, others or the rules of society. No matter the strides I lived than about the people forced to labor for him. James California. California power brokers kept a second home in New Orleans where he and his wife have made in making changes inside myself, I am still vilified, antagonized and sensory deprived daily, all under would receive the city’s elite. Their “very elegant toilets and in business and government the pretense of safety and security of the institution. The cordial hospitality” would be noted in the paper’s gossip are not about to allow or let the Government actually pays the state to keep us in a maximum columns. After visits to New Orleans, the James family aforementioned scheme situation diminish, deteriorate, dissolve or be security setting no matter our age or time served. would ride his steamboat back to Angola, eating delicious I do not desire to make this piece a negative, whining set meals and playing poker on deck, while transporting convicts terminated. of thoughts that leave you happy knowing that some of the in the cargo below. On the plantation, the family kept about worst of Missouri’s criminals are being sufficiently made There is no way in the foreseeable (near) future that the 50 prisoners in an ill‑ventilated 15‑by‑20‑foot shack located aware of where we are daily. The truth of the matter is this GDP can continue as is or improve without the continuity a half-mile from their nine‑bedroom mansion. During the system is doomed for failure at the cost of many lives and of the California PIC/Criminal Justice System (CJS). Period! day, some convicts would tend to the expansive yard, its oak, hundreds of millions of your tax dollars. Let’s look at the California tax payers fork out $14+ billion a year to operate pecan, and fig trees, and the family’s stable out back. results of this. CDC and the Federal government forks in/contributes a huge In the mornings, the convict houseboys would bring James I am 55 years of age. I’ve successfully completed all amount also. Thus the prisoner slaves are the bottom line coffee in bed and saddle up his horse, which he’d ride out the classes, educational courses, and resource that maintains the budget strength of California. vocational training DOC offers. I’ve utilized family funding into the fields at daybreak to see that the work had begun. California power brokers in business and government are to take and earn my paralegal certificate from Blackstone The few scant accounts reporters recorded from prisoners not about to allow or let the aforementioned scheme situation Career Institute. Funds may soon be available from my family described a dawn‑to‑dusk work regimen, whippings, diminish, deteriorate, dissolve or be terminated. The cost for me to take an advanced course. I maintain daily contact and being forced to sleep in muddy clothing. While the will be too great to begin to dismantle a state prison system with family and friends. This is what gives me strength to fieldworkers ate “starvation rations,” James would return to that pays its prison guards more than its school’s teachers persevere. I have very innovative ways in which I can run the big house in the morning to a spread of bacon, eggs, and instructors. Having the most costly prison system in and operate a business from here in which I could care for grits, biscuits, batter cakes, syrup, coffee, cream, and fruit. the nation and simultaneously holding the highest record myself and loved ones, as well as save taxpayer money by At lunchtime, a “little Negro boy” would sit on the stairs for prisoner suicides, murders and natural deaths. And dare providing my own room and board. While my doing this only and pull a rope that would a fan to keep the family I remain mute about the sexual assault by California needs approval, Missouri would rather keep me desolate prison guards of several imprisoned womyn resulting in cool. The fieldwork continued through the day, but during and stigmatized as a tumor on the body of the State instead those guilty being represented in court by lawyers hired by the hottest hours, the James family slept, rising later to take of promoting me as a shining example of rehabilitation. the guards’ California Union and resulting in slap-on-the- a ride around the plantation in their carriage. The truth about the justice system in Missouri may shock wrist punishment (if!) found guilty. No realistic solution One day, in 1894, James was doing his rounds when he you. Under the watchful eyes of Warden Ian Wallace, his or remedy that actually works to correct the ills and the was struck by a sudden brain hemorrhage. He died soon after, leadership has turned this place into a powder keg of anger, concerns and matters I address has been proposed because to and his body was laid out in the big house for a viewing. instability, inconsistency and confusion. Because of this I put it or one into practice would be a chaotic catastrophe for When the estate was passed on to his son, it was valued at have no daily routine. There is a daily Standard Operational the economy of California. That the media are denied access $2.3 million, the equivalent of about $63 million in 2018. Procedure that is supposed to be followed and it looks to the California prisons allegedly because of/for safety A convict under James’ lease had a higher chance of death good on paper. Nothing is run efficiently on purpose. They concerns and security, not raising imminent concerns from slow the meals down to a crawl so that the programs and than he would have had as a slave. In 1884, the editor of the electorate or California citizens, demonstrates a pathetic recreation (which only starts after) never run timely and the the Daily Picayune wrote that it would be “more humane to and reprehensible situational reality that strongly indicates a Volunteers in Corrections (VIC’s) that come in are purposely punish with death all prisoners sentenced to a longer period pre-planned scheme to maintain the status quo conventional delayed, prohibited admittance and inconvenienced to the than six years” because the average convict lived no longer mainstream dominant culture, to assure its place and control point where they just stop coming. It is the same for me in than that. At the time, the death rate at six prisons in the of an ethnic minority, dominating “anyone who conducts a trying to maintain a daily routine. Time delegated for one Midwest, where convict leasing was nonexistent, was about dispute or grievance by appealing to authority is not using his activity is cancelled, delayed or cut into so often a routine is 1 percent. By contrast, in the deadliest year of Louisiana’s intelligence he is just using his memory.” Leonardo da Vinci not established and purposely done to keep us imbalanced. lease, nearly 20 percent of convicts perished. Between 1870 Sincerely, Tempered Optimism (aka) Paul Mitchell Even the correctional officers that volunteer are told to not and 1901, about 3,000 Louisiana convicts, most of whom Editor’s Note: In politics and economics, a Potemkin become passionate about furthering the rehabilitation of the were black, died under James’ regime. Before the war, only village is any construction (literal or figurative) built solely offenders. a handful of planters owned more than 1,000 slaves, and to deceive others into thinking that a situation is better than it I am a member of the NAACP here. The Warden has there is no record of anyone allowing 3,000 valuable human really is. (You learn something new every day. Thanks Paul!) successfully shut us down. He reassigned our VIC, who chattel to die. The pattern was consistent throughout the was a correctional officer because he pushed too hard on South, where annual convict death rates ranged from about * Small Acts of Resilience and Resistance our behalf for the basics, assigned another who was then 16 percent to 25 percent, a mortality rate that would rival the Dear Prison Focus, delegated job responsibilities during the days our meetings Soviet gulags to come. ( death rates during 1942 and I hope that by the time this letter reaches its destination, were held. When he quit out of frustration, the Warden took 1943 were about 25 percent, according to the Soviet Union’s it will find you and the Prison Focus staff doing well and that meeting period since we had no VIC. We are being Interior Ministry records.) enjoying life to the fullest. set up for failure, deemed monsters, are stigmatized and Some American camps were far deadlier than Stalin’s: I am incarcerated here in Chuckawalla Valley State Prison then told they need more money to deal with us. All the In South Carolina, the death rate of convicts leased to the and have been in prison for damn near most of my life. I organizations are allowed two yearly fund raisers and one Greenwood and Augusta Railroad averaged 45 percent am a member of the LGBT community and an advocate for ongoing fund raiser. We all can individually retain $5,000 a year from 1877–79. In 1870, Alabama prison officials prison reform and LGBT rights. Enclosed is a GRANT on a in our organizational accounts. Our by-laws tell us to donate a certain percentage of funds to not-for-profit organizations reported that more than 40 percent of their convicts had CDC 602, Inmate Appeal for a collection of LGBT books to in the community. The Warden sees these funds as his died in their mining camps. A doctor warned that Alabama’s be added to the Library here in CVSP. own. He has the president and treasurer of each group sign entire convict population could be wiped out within three Originally, I requested it on paper and in person from the off $1,000 checks and he distributes them to causes he years. But such warnings meant little to the men getting rich Facility Librarian; A collection of LGBT books and a catalog supports, like his brother’s church and other self-interested so that I can check out a book in privacy. The Librarian flat off prisoners. There was simply no incentive for lessees to causes he is affiliated with. This would not be an out told me that she didn‘t have to. So I filed an appeal and avoid working people to death. In 1883, 11 years before issue with us, only, the greed of the Warden caused him within a week my appeal was granted. Samuel L. James’ death, one Southern man told the National to post rules which do not allow us to fund events within PREA (Prison Elimination Act) auditors are Conference of Charities and Correction, “Before the war, the prison which educates and ultimately generates new coming to CVSP on November 3, 2018. I have already we owned the negroes. If a man had a good negro, he could members. Further, our requests to donate to causes from the written to them documenting the environment of afford to take care of him: if he was sick get a doctor. He neighborhoods our crimes were committed in are outright fear, and sexual harassment being might even put gold plugs in his teeth. But these convicts: denied. Organizations like Women’s Voices Lifted for Social fostered in this prison...and will ask for the auditors to we don’t own ’em. One dies, get another.” Justice, The Resurrection Temple, Missouri CURE and The tour with me to the library to see if in fact the order to add From American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey Youth Enlighten Program (YEP) never receive anything an LGBT collection has been complied with. from us at this branch NAACP because the Warden will Into the Business of Punishment by Shane Bauer. Published Anyway, I will be writing you keeping you apprised of not approve it. He will not approve basic supplies for us to by arrangement with Penguin Press, a member of Penguin my at activist efforts. Thanking you in advance for your time make contributions to the prison community. Since we can’t Random House, LLC. Copyright 2018 by Shane Bauer. ● and assistance in spreading the news. Sincerely, Frank Perez

12 PRISON FOCUS have our interests funded, we refused to sign his thousand for the purpose of keeping us unorganized, uneducated and New Pennsylvania DOC Policies Contribute dollar requests, even after he threatened to take our meeting imbalanced physically and mentally. The DOC is trying to to the Already Booming Multi-Billion Dollar and shut us down. The Warden has, under the pretense of a create a volatile environment in order to justify our continued Industry of Prison Communications, bogus investigation, locked down (in the hole) our last three incarceration and their existence in serving the purpose of Presidents, then had them transferred. This has extended keeping us away from society. There have been fifteen cases and to Prison Slavery as a Whole. By Kim Pollak over a six year period. So, we don’t function. Our efforts of prostate cancer diagnosed over the past three years here. A DOC has signed a new $4 million contract with are spent steadily trying to get past the red tape. His last My prostate is also at risk of cancer. I am scheduled for a 2nd Florida-based Smart Communications to scan and tactic was to lock down the president six months ago and biopsy in a few months. While our deaths are termed natural digitally forward inmate mail. While imprisoned try to install his own choice as the new president. This has causes, there is nothing natural about it. There is something P moms and dads, aunts and uncles are upset that they can caused the NAACP branch here not to function. The Warden in the food served or purchased causing this. We are being no longer receive hand-drawn pictures from their children refused to allow us to reorder the frozen veggies we use as killed in here by subtle means and you are paying the medical and nieces and nephews, others are equally disturbed our ongoing fund raiser. If we’re not going to delegate our costs for it. Inferior quality of the food and daily high doses of by the increased surveillance. "Converting your inmate funds to his whim there won’t be any funds generated and stress, pain and anxiety is deliberate indifference of physical postal mail to electronic media...opens a whole new field our dietary needs met. medical injury that is resulting in wrongful death. of intelligence for your agency," Smart Communications Absolute power breeds absolute corruption. There can be Just as pitbulls are trained to kill, the DOC’s policies have notes on its website. Separately, legal mail will be opened no justice if every law and its procedures are absolute. The purposely attributed to the mind state of those released. A and photocopied on site at the prisons, a practice that critics public is not aware of the many forms of corruption taking day in the life and time in my life is very stressful and very say violates attorney-client privilege. The PA ACLU, the place with their hard earned taxes. On the one hand, these unfulfilling. The most minimal accomplishments are hard PA Institutional Law Project, the Abolitionist Law Center, prisons were built to bring much needed finances to poor fought for and seldom achieved if going thru the powers that Amistad Law Project, and Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis rural communities. On the other hand, nepotism concerning be have anything to do with it. I have to be consciously aware LLP filed two federal civil rights lawsuits challenging this the contracts, over-inflated invoices for substandard goods at all times. When you let it be known through your actions new “cruel and unusual” policy. The lawsuits, Project and services is the norm. Tracing just who gets the lion’s that you know your place and are not looking for trouble but v. Wetzel and Hayes v. Wetzel, claim that the policy is an share of these monies will reveal a clique of a few who have they want to demean you further, history shows that this will “exaggerated, irrational response to a non-problem... created an exact science and long-term goal of converting eventually cause a riot. They will tell you, “I told you so, seriously undermining the lawyers’ ability to provide your tax dollar to privatized funds. The best way to do this they are monsters that need to be kept locked up.” I’m telling zealous and effective legal representation.” is by creating chaos amongst the prisoners. By creating you now, do not let them get away with continuing to instill In addition, as part of DOC's $15 million worth of new an atmosphere of violence and hostility it will serve their the negative behavior traits of those being released, and security measures being put in place, it is cutting off access purpose and justify their actions. Crime pays, keeps their killing those of us which are stuck in here. They are spending to free books programs. DOC claims they will instead beef jobs secure and lays the foundation for their children and hundreds of millions of your tax dollars for their own gain, not up their libraries and provide access to a list of 8,500 e-books their offspring. An investigation into these practices should fulfilling the purpose of bettering the conditions of mankind. through the vendor GTL. But thousands of people who earn promote much needed prison reform. This cannot be done They are creating the chaos and violence and then popping between 19 and 51 cents per hour in prison jobs realize this by the Missouri Attorney General’s office because they their collars in the public’s eyes asking for more funds and is one more way to extract money from them. GTL, which are the Department of Corrections personal attorney. This justifying why they are suppressing our life’s fires. Fire them has an estimated annual revenue of $10M and is DOC's corruption is done with the AG’s protection and blind eye. and set up a system that is not as corrupt as this one. It is all on primary e-book provider, charges $149 for tablets. They will the Director of the DOC, George Lombardi. He has squirreled reap enormous profits as a result of the new policies while away millions of your tax money to sustain his desires. Make We are being poked, prodded and thousands of imprisoned people will simply lose access to him resign and be wary to ensure that the governor’s next valuable reading material, a devestating prospect. According provoked into physical altercations and choice be a person that is progressively favorable toward true psychological despair. Prisoners must to Huffpost, GTL isn't the only entity that will profit. In rehabilitation. I may not live to see it, but hopefully someone 2013 U.S. Prisons received $460 million in commissions consider the conditions will look at this and look into the madness of a day in the life from prison phone companies, including from GTL. These and time of Eric. What’s happening needs to stop. ● policies contribute to the already booming multi-billion The psychological effects of standard operational dollar prison communications industry. procedure has long had a trend of instilling what the public The announcement of the new policies followed a 15-day would perceive as a criminal mind set of the prisoners. *Flux of Unlikely Defectors lockdown of all PA prisons that was initiated on September However, it is basic human behavior. Practices of true For almost 30 years attempts were made to get help from 29th, eight days into the widespread National Hunger education in the public school system and in prison would the courts regarding the shameful SHU conditions and the gang validation policies affecting them. There were no Strike. Predictably, the DOC alleges that the lock-down was stop recidivism, but this would eventually shut prisons down "necessary to protect guards from unknown substances” as there would not be a need to incarcerate so many for so meaningful results in the judicial system. A most important benefit, however, did arise. Attention was received from that have entered the facilities, but prison activists are no long. Those who make criminal justice a family business fools. They believe it was called to stifle the organizing of go out of their way to ensure that this does not happen at advocates of prison justice, empathetic activist lawyers and the National Prison Strike. ● the expense of your taxes and my life. Minor infractions the vigorous support-moral and active loved ones. All of this are inflated intro seemingly terrible atrocities. We are being snowballed into the best support system that any prisoner Florida Passes Amendment poked, prodded and provoked into physical altercations and movement could hope for. psychological despair. In the free world the Willie Lynch For a time, the prisoner leadership was at a stalemate, so to Restore Voting Rights syndrome is the norm, is glorified with the end result being to speak, indecisive as to what the rally cry of the prisoner for 1.5 Million Floridians addiction, prison or death. Here and there, we are being class would be. They were apprehensive about appearing lorida voters recently approved Amendment 4, assaulted and then charged with assault. One of the guys soft/weak, to the contrary of their character. The distinction which says that most felons will automatically have here jokingly said, “Man, they beat my ass, then gave me of the SHU prisoner as opposed to the rest. Eventually the their voting rights restored when they complete their five years and said I made them do it.” Here, hope is merely movement matured and it was a collective decision that F sentences or go on probation. a joke to make you think something is going to happen. their cause would be a denouncement against CDCR’s The amendment restores voting rights to people with Guards are trained to be utterly disrespectful, unknowingly Cruel and Unusual Punishment, against the violation of their human rights; A bold move to now represent and defend our felonies on their records who have completed their sentence, being used as pawns to further the cause of those sucking including parole and probation, with the exception of those millions of your tax dollars out of the Department’s budget. humanity. The spirit of our cause was glowing, a glowing light which encouraged our loved ones and activists to rally convicted of murder and sexual offenses. These individuals Despite little or no major acts of violence occurring, those in must wait at least 5 years after completing their sentences to control justify their purpose by creating chaos. The effects and mobilize for us. They became the wheels that accelerated our movement and were now a giant bullhorn of our demands. ask the Florida Clemency Board, made up by the governor of this on us that have to live here until freed or is slated and the Cabinet, to restore their rights. The sequence of events that led up to the release of gang to die here makes us wonder. How can we have respect for A U.S. district judge found Florida's current system validated inmates from SHU required the gaining and those who do not respect us? Do we have a right to fight an arbitrary and unconstitutional in March, and the case spreading of knowledge. Also, and just as important, was abusive foster-parent who is killing us? The daily routine of is under appeal. If passed, Amendment 4 would impact our introspection, preparing by digging deep within us in making it through a day is so full of abuses of authority it 1.5 million Floridians. Florida is one of four states that order to admit vulnerability and to confess the pain that rises to a level of physical abuse because it is battering our disenfranchises former felons permanently. results from cruel and unusual punishment. This is true to senses. The conservative group Koch Brothers and ice cream those of us who put our heart and soul into it. We considered Why should we continue to live under these circumstances company Ben & Jerry's were among those who support the ourselves human beings, completely defying the label of “the when the end result is death anyway? There are many forms Amendment. ● of abuse taking place here. The most subtle that have the worst of the worst.” Seeing a mass of mostly total strangers biggest effects is the daily running of the prison which does mobilizing, feeling the love and efforts of family and friends, not allow you to maintain a set positive routine. Delays and does something to the spirit that cannot be undone. Hope In California individuals convicted of a felony are cancellations are the norm. It affects our mental and physical was so ALIVE; a hopeful human spirit inevitably reveals the ineligible to vote while incarcerated and on parole. Voting health. The mattresses are merely mats and fatally flawed in inherent will to be free from all shackles… rights are automatically restored upon completion of parole, and people on probation can vote. Ex-offenders should re- their design. Given to us because it makes their job easier to Constructing, executing, and bringing to fruition a register to vote. 162,000 people cannot vote because of a search, they are causing physical injuries to our necks, hips, challenge to a powerful authority, will reshape the mind. It’s felony conviction. shoulders and arms. Compressed discs, stress fractures and not only a catharsis of the spirit but also of the psyche. Failure aches and pains that turn into arthritis plague our bodies with and success will always have an impact on the revolutionary constant pain being the results from merely attempting to ethos of justice and freedom. Anonymous sleep. Complaints of the long-term effects are ignored. The Editor's Note: The title in this letter refers to organizers monthly committees with officials are merely a farce that and participants of the 2011 and 2013 hunger strike activists accomplishes little or nothing. Speak your mind or the truth who have chosen to debrief. While CPF wants to provide a and you’ll be punished and transferred. platform for all voices and opinions, in this situation, due You’d expect to be able to be left alone after serving 30 not only to space issues, we have chosen not to publish the odd years with no major altercations. You would expect to be entire letter because we feel like the disagreements around in a lessor secure environment and have hope of working to debriefing can be divisive and potentially harmful to the a goal of freedom, or for many, to die at peace. This isn’t the struggle against prison slavery and the brutal oppression of case. Being an Ole’ head in the joint used to garner respect. the entire prisoner class, as well as the personal plights of the A Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition (PHSS) - Now we are culled out and targeted as troublemakers individuals who remain committed to the principals behind Organized rally in support of Ashker Setttlement class because we understand the results of being micromanaged members, this last Spring, outside the Phillip Burton their choice to not debrief. Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in San Francisco.

ISSUE 57 13 three other points were also salient. First was the recognition workers often leaves people in prison and other precarious * Keeping the Spirit that not all prisoners labor under conditions of chattel slavery. layers of the laborers outside organizing orbits. Moreover, of the Prison Labor Although in rural southern prisons like Angola in Louisiana, once again the strike failed to report any action in women’s men do pick cotton, people in other states have varying work prisons or jails. Strike Alive regimes. Some incarcerated people work in factories under These absences relate to a bigger question: how to connect By James Kilgore contract from private companies, but far more are warehoused, this movement led by people inside prisons to those folks Published by Truthout on October 1, 2018 remaining locked in their cells with few if any work on the outside struggling for their own survival. The family at https://truthout.org/articles/keeping-the-spirit-of-the- opportunities and an ever-shrinking menu of education and and community members of those in prison are largely from prison-labor-strike-alive/ other programs. The 2018 approach to organizing embodied the precarious layer of the working class, the population n 2005, when I was in Lompoc US Penitentiary, prison an expanded understanding of prison slavery — the notion of most impacted by the growing inequality, , authorities sent me a slip telling me they had returned slavery as a system of total control, a total lack of freedom in and lack of services in our society. This cohort Ia book a publisher had sent me because it included a which laboring without pay is but one element. suffers not only from losing loved ones to prison, but from chapter entitled “How to Organize a Strike.” They deemed Second, the connection between this strike and the killing the lack of housing, education, health care, and living this as inappropriate reading material — a measure of their of seven men at Lee prison in South Carolina in April was wage employment. In other circles, the mobilization of paranoia about the “S”-word. profound. The men in Lee were not killed by guards but as family members, particularly women, has become a key Thirteen years later, the prison authorities haven’t a result of in-fighting between prisoners. In a sense, this is component of campaigns against mass incarceration. changed. Their fear of collective action by people in prison similar to the hundreds of cases we unfortunately witness every Groups like the Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted is central to their identity. Hence, when I hear about events year in the streets of our urban communities, where residents, People and Family Movement, the National Council of like the Prison Labor Strike of 2018 and its aftermath, I especially youth, kill each other through gun violence. The Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, find it stunning that so many people behind the walls are deaths at Lee ultimately happened because the guards waited Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, Families Against now prepared to take mass action against the system of seven hours before intervening. In other words, like many Mandatory Minimums, Moms United Against Violence incarceration. urban police forces, they were content to let the killing go and Incarceration and California Families Against Solitary The Prison Labor Strike of 2018 ahead. Confinement as well as many locally based groups have This year’s Prison Labor Strike was one of the most In response, Jailhouse Lawyers Speak did not press for the become essential vehicles in bringing together critically amazing mobilizations of liberatory politics in the past guards to do their job more effectively or call on their comrades impacted communities. Hence, it was surprising not to see decade. It was the latest iteration in the most recent to exact revenge on those who carried out the killings inside these forces leading the demonstrations, formulating the generation of prison rebellions, which has included labor Lee. Instead, similar to activists in urban communities who messaging and handling the media queries during this strike. strikes in Georgia prisons in 2010, the three Pelican Bay don’t call for more police to solve the problem, the Jailhouse What Comes Next? Hunger Strikes in California 2011-2013, and the direct Lawyers Speak leadership properly identified the root cause According to Sawari, those who supported the strike predecessor of the latest action: the strike against prison of the killings as the oppressive system of mass incarceration. should focus on two immediate tasks: fighting back against slavery in 2016. They developed their demands to draw attention to, and efforts by prison authorities to punish strikers and organizers The authoritarian nature of prison bureaucracies prevents challenge, that system. This strategic response was a big part and pushing elected officials to move ahead on the demands us from compiling a precise chronicle of what takes of why the 2018 strike got far much more attention from the of the strikers. place behind the walls. However, according to the lead mainstream media than previous strikes. Minimizing retribution is a mighty challenge. As historian organization in the strike, the network of prisoners known How Organizers Built Upon the Lessons of 2016 Heather Thompson reminds us, previous uprisings by people as Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, actions occurred in 16 states Five groups were listed as organizers of the strike: Jailhouse in prison have brought vicious retribution. The classic case and federal prisons. Plus, over 200 people went on strike in Lawyers Speak, Incarcerated Workers’ Organizing Committee is the Attica Prison Uprising in 1971, which concluded with the Northwest Immigration Detention Center. (IWOC), Fire Inside, the Free Alabama Movement and state troopers mounting a brutal military offensive against Amani Sawari, the official spokesperson for Jailhouse Millions for Prisoners. In the end, Jailhouse Lawyers Speak the prisoners, killing 39 people in the process and torturing Lawyers Speak, emphasized that the mobilization took and IWOC were the key drivers. Jailhouse Lawyers Speak had many more men in its wake. many forms. In some prisons, striking meant refusing work; a very different presence than the 2016 strike leaders of the The Prisoners’ Legal Advocacy Network of the National in others it involved hunger strikes or refusing to spend Free Alabama Movement. Lawyers’ Guild has been compiling a list of retaliatory money for commissary and phone services. Apart from During 2016, much of the media profile and communication acts carried out by prison authorities surrounding the 2018 actions inside prisons, Sawari reported that more than 200 centered around key incarcerated individuals, especially strike. In the first two weeks after the strike, they received community organizations across the country endorsed the Kinetik Justice and Malik Washington. Largely due to the reports from people behind the walls in twelve states who strike. These supporters carried out dozens of solidarity limitations of communicating from inside prison, the Free chronicled physical abuse, pre-emptive lockdowns before actions including call-in campaigns known as phone zaps, Alabama Movement’s messaging at times was sporadic and the strike, along with placing jailhouse lawyers and other noise demonstrations, teach-ins, sit-ins and massive email contradictory. Plus, on occasion media spokespeople put out activists in solitary confinement. Those who have loved campaigns. information of questionable veracity. ones in prison echoed the observations the Prisoners’ Legal Strike, Not an Insurrection In 2018, Jailhouse Lawyers Speak chose to remain in the Advocacy Network in interviews with Truthout. The Prison Labor Strike of 2018 was organized very background and communicate through Sawari who anchored a Prisoners who did not participate in the action are also specifically a strike — not an insurrection or attempt at media team that comprised freelance journalist Jared Ware plus facing retaliation. Sarah Roogow, who visits Atiba Ajamu revolution. Since strikes are so rare in the US, we might half a dozen IWOC members, including Brooke Terpstra. This Olugbala in a Maryland prison, told Truthout that Olugbala revisit exactly what a strike implies. While revolutionaries committee performed magnificently. Its members kept their is being “victimized” now, even though there was no may engage in strikes, in all but the rarest of circumstances, voices on the sidelines and promoted the words of Jailhouse strike action in that state. In her words, “whenever you’re a strike does not aim for radical change. When workers Lawyers Speak. They constantly re-directed mainstream and politically active in these institutions it’s easy to be a target go on strike, they typically have a specific set of demands left media attention to the strikers’ demands when journalists for retaliation, especially when you’re educated.” Despite they want their bosses to meet. A strike may win some wanted to divert the message down some other sensationalistic the repression visited on Olugbala, she says the strike is demands but perhaps more importantly will provide worker route. In addition, they offered insightful analyses when called “necessary,” that ultimately this is a “peaceful way of saying organizations (and even unfortunately for the bosses as well) upon to do so. Moreover, the structured time frame of the 2018 something’s got to change without causing chaos.” a quick assessment of the balance of forces. Strikes teach strike enabled a more planned approach to communication Apart from direct retaliation, mass action in prisons often workers what is possible and show that what they have to efforts. triggers repression not directly attributable to the strike but do to extend the boundaries of possibility. The more strikers IWOC continues to often puzzle both the mainstream media emerging from the paranoia that collective action prompts have the capacity to learn from past actions, the greater their and other elements of the political left. While linked to the among prison personnel. potential to advance their interests in the future. anarchist-leaning Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), In this vein, at the end of August the entire prison The 2016 strike was an open-ended mobilization to end according to leading member Brooke Terpstra, IWOC is the system of Pennsylvania went on lockdown, allegedly due prison slavery. While this provided powerful lessons about “prisoner led section of the IWW.” Terpstra, who has had family to a number of guards becoming ill after exposure to an the nature of the prison system, the demand was clearly members incarcerated, told Truthout their successes were the “unknown substance,” later identified as a synthetic form unwinnable at any time in the foreseeable future. With no fruit of “working our asses off.” He rejected any categorization of marijuana known as K2 or spice. Authorities concluded specific deadline, the action created some confusion among of IWOC as a solidarity group that was distant from the realities that the substance was entering the prison through the mail strikers and supporters about how long to carry on. The of prison but stressed that a large portion of IWOC members system. They immediately banned direct communication by lack of a specific deadline made it uncertain for strikers and are “critically impacted” and this is what drives their passion. letters. Instead, according to Justina, whose husband is in a supporters as to how long they should continue their actions. “We got skin in the game,” he told Truthout. Pennsylvania prison and who asked that her last name be By contrast, the carefully crafted program for this year IWOC’s growth and development offer useful lessons in withheld due to her fear of retaliation against her partner, all incorporated a specific time frame (August 21 to September what it means to be an ally or an accomplice in a struggle of those wanting to correspond with someone in a Pennsylvania 9) and put forward ten demands, which organizers had the oppressed. They have now played a leading role in the last facility were instructed to send their letters to an address in whittled down from an original list of 35. These demands two prison strikes, helping coordinate communication between St. Petersburg, Florida, where they would be photocopied focused on the key pieces that hold the system of mass in-prison leaders and community activists while also engaging and sent to the addressee. The Pennsylvania ACLU protested incarceration together. They aimed, in Sawari’s words, at in popular education about mass incarceration. While IWOC this lockdown, arguing that it jeopardized the health of the “making prisons better and safer places for the people who stresses that a considerable portion of their ranks are “critically men inside prison and left their families “in the dark” on the have to live there.” While ending prison slavery remained impacted” by mass incarceration, they have also found a welfare of their loved ones. a key element, the list targeted narrower reforms such way to extend their message into the ranks of students and Even in the face of such repression, Sawari urged those as ending truth-in-sentencing laws and racialized over- organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America for who supported the strike to push forward with the demands charging, eliminating life without parole, and increased whom incarceration is not a reality. advanced by Jailhouse Lawyers Speak. In its post-strike training and education opportunities for people inside Who Was Missing? statement, the media committee concluded: “It has been a prisons. Predictably, the voice of organized labor was very faint huge success of the 2018 prison strike that the 10 points Clearly the criminal legal system would look a lot in the choir of support. Of the more than 200 supporting have been pushed into the national and international different if these demands were implemented, but it organizations, only a handful of US unions featured-three consciousness. The work of spreading and fighting for these would still not be abolished. While many of the Jailhouse local branches of the United Auto Workers and two Graduate demands will continue on all fronts until they are actualized, Lawyers Speak leaders identified as prison abolitionists, Employees Organizations. Despite efforts to frame the strike and then beyond that onto what [Jailhouse Lawyers Speak] their approach accepted that ending mass incarceration is a as a workers’ action, IWOC and Jailhouse Lawyers Speak aptly calls ‘the dismantling process,’ as we build a movement long, complicated political struggle, not the product of one were unable to crack the general failure of trade unions to toward abolition.” ● insurrectionary event. recognize mass incarceration as a working-class issue. The Copyright, Truthout.org. Reprinted with permission. While the demands represented the key change from 2016, unions’ excessive concentration on industrial and public sector 14 PRISON FOCUS If it’s true, as Eisen and Kilgore write, that the strike was about notorious Angola prison, was suddenly transferred to another The Tolls of mobilizing popular opinion on behalf of those incarcerated, then prison hours away when officials found that he was helping to Activism the strike’s efficacy depends upon a force currently absent from lead actions during this year’s strike. the prison system: compassion. It relies on people who have social “We are anti-slavery, and are organizing to transform our What Happened to the Striking and political capital to make policy changes caring about what ghettos into communities and our jails and prisons into places Prisoners and Their Concerns? happens behind the wire-topped walls, even if it doesn’t affect of human redemption,” Brooks said in a Facebook Live video By Erin Rubin them directly. In this respect, it is a demonstration of faith in the on June 10. In the video, Brooks delivers his message with a Published October 1, 2018 by Non Profit Quarterly democratic system that cannot be allowed to go unanswered. ● t-shirt covering his face, but prison officials were ultimately https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2018/10/04/the-tolls-of- able to identify him. activism-what-happened-to-the-striking-prisoners-and- As Brooks’ mother told The Appeal, the Department of their-concerns/ Corrections "transferred him out to kind of break up anything mericans behind bars pulled off an extraordinary RETALIATION AND that’s going on, any communication or things like that to try feat last month when they organized a coordinated RESISTANCE BEHIND BARS to stop them from moving forward with their rights...What strike in over a dozen prisons across the US. It they wanted to do was to move him away...because he was A By Joe Andrews an organizer." was one of the biggest prison strikes in the US, and an Posted September 13, 2018 at https://socialistworker.org enormous risk for the organizers and participants, so what Ohio State Penitentiary prisoner Imam Siddique Abdullah The nationwide prison strike has ended, but as they have in the has come of it? Hasan was placed in the most restrictive form of solitary past, prison officials are trying to identify and punish anyone Heather Ann Thompson of PopularResistance.org had confinement on July 27 after prison officials discovered who defied repression. hopeful things to say about the level of coverage in the “strike-related” mail and social media posts. Another prisoner “They're looking for the leaders right now. They want to take media. She wrote, who reported the retaliation against Hasan to outside sources our heads off.” “Coverage can be found in such major newspapers as was also forced into solitary for leaking information. These words came from a representative of Jailhouse Lawyers the Washington Post and . Popular Additional reports reveal that prisoners in Ohio, Florida, Speak (JLS), a group of incarcerated lawyers who have been at magazines such as GQ and Teen Vogue have also South Carolina and Washington have also been placed in the forefront of the nationwide prison labor strike that officially published pieces…with politicians so noticeably less solitary confinement for helping organize or take part in the ended on Sunday, September 9. vocal about this vital issue [prison reform], prisoners 2018 strike. “Eddie,” as he goes by, talked with a small group of activists and alone are calling the public to action.” At New Mexico’s Lea County Correctional facility, journalists in a press conference a week before the strike ended, It’s true that this prison strike got more coverage than prisoners were put on lockdown starting August 20, just a reminding us that many prisoners don’t want to communicate others, though, as NPQ noted, organizers were rightly wary day before the strike began, in an effort to weed out those openly, as they fear repression and retaliation for speaking out. about engaging directly with mainstream publications, participating in “disruptive behavior.” The lockdown bars As he said: which often failed to adjust their expectations for the any access to communication, visitation or recreation, and I think a lot of people...don’t understand that prisons are restrictions faced by those behind bars. significantly limits access to food and shower. barbaric, and they are not transparent at all. Reporters and So far, no policy changes have been promised, though This shows that prison officials recognize the collective everyone else have to do their research on how people have been Florida has a ballot initiative this November to allow power that workers have when they withhold their labor targeted in the past. Like right now, we know there’s an all-out those who are or have been incarcerated the right to and disrupt business as usual. This is why organizers and manhunt for Jailhouse Lawyers Speak leaders. vote. Lauren-Brooke Eisen, a senior fellow at New York revolutionaries are targeted for isolation and brutalization. SO HOW have prisoners been targeted in the past? University Law School’s Brennan Center for Justice OF COURSE, the repression of the U.S. state extends The beginning and end dates of the 2018 prison strike — and the author of Inside Private Prisons: An American beyond prison walls. August 21 and September 8 — weren’t chosen at random. Dilemma in the Age of Mass Incarceration, told Vox’s Up until July of this year, hundreds of activists arrested August 21 marks the anniversary of California prisoner George Jennie Neufeld that this isn’t unexpected or necessarily during protests of Trump’s inauguration in Washington, D.C., Jackson’s murder and September 8 is the day the famed Attica a failed result. “There’s very little evidence that most of faced pending felony riot charges, which are punishable by up prison uprising. these demands are met after these prison strikes,” she to 10 years in jail and a fine of $250,000. Both took place in 1971. Black Panther George Jackson was said. “I think the significance here is that incarcerated According to the ACLU, legislators in nearly 20 states killed by prison guards in California’s notorious San Quentin people are lending their voice to what’s happening.” put forward anti-protest bills in 2017. Four of them passed, Prison for his expression of radical politics and efforts toward James Kilgore, a former prisoner and now a writer for while others are still being considered. Ferguson, Baltimore organizing prisoners. Across the country in upstate New York, Truthout, wrote, “A strike may win some demands but and Standing Rock also exemplify the intense racialized a show of solidarity in honor of Jackson was one of the ways repression of dissent in the U.S.remain in session. perhaps more importantly…strikes teach workers prisoners first came together. what is possible and show that what they have to do to Those behind bars are subjected to an even more intense So when Eddie of JLS mentions the fear and physical threats level of surveillance and punishment. But our fight for our extend the boundaries of possibility.” faced by those who struck today, we have some idea of the deadly Of course, the people lending their voices do want rights and our freedom is one in the same. As Eddie of JLS stakes. real change, which is why they took the enormous risk said; “We’re not going to give them our head, we’re not going It was no accident that Jackson — who the Trinidad-born of striking. They’re paying for it now; prisons across the to let them destroy our movement. It’s not going to happen.” ● socialist writer C.L.R. James praised for having produced “the country are reported to be cracking down on strikers and most remarkable political documents that have appeared inside or non-strikers alike. The Guardian’s Jamiles Lartey reports Neither Appeals Nor Peaceful Protest outside the United State since the death of Lenin” — was struck * that participants are facing solitary confinement, the down. Bring Relief cessation of communication with friends and loved ones, For that matter, Russian revolutionaries like Lenin and Leon I am addressing this letter to you with respects to my transfers to facilities far from their families, and more Trotsky spent time themselves in prison or in exile for their life being in danger...at Corcoran State Prison. I initiated a Kevin Rashid Johnson, who managed to get an op- communist politics and revolutionary organizing. hunger strike due to complaining to custody concerning their ed to the Guardian from his solitary cell, wrote that The Attica uprising ended with a massacre carried out by the segregious unethical classification practices, unlawful lock- officials want “to shut me up and prevent me fraternizing forces of the state on September 13, 1971 — 50 years ago today. up orders, refusing to respond to inmate request 22 forms with other prisoners as they fear I will radicalize them Law enforcement fired thousands of rounds of ammunition into and 602’s, and transfers, my legal mail and packages being and encourage them to resist their oppression.” Johnson clouds of tear gas, killing 39 prisoners and wounding hundreds. trashed, unlawfully returned, etc. is actually in a death-row cell, though he does not face State officials’ opposition to the prisoners’ demands for basic ...I have been without food for 26 days now and without the death penalty. His lawyer, Dustin McDaniel said, human rights and dignity was so determined that they were water for seven. I am a diabetic with liver damage and Hep-C. “He does political education work with other prisoners, willing to sacrifice 10 prison guards by ordering the crackdown. Custody refuses to speak with me regardless and Medical and so they move him around to try to neutralize him.” If Attica is any indicator of how long it takes for the details of refuses to monitor or treat me during my hunger strike… This is a half-century-old tactic to deal with prisoners state repression to surface publicly, we likely don’t know the half My organs are weak and my muscles are collapsing. I am who are seen as organizers. The system can essentially of what’s happening today in the wake of the prison strike. writing, pleading with anyone to please contact someone isolate an activist not only through solitary confinement, Thanks to cell phone technology, however, reports from inside but through keeping the prisoner moving from prison to immediately so that I don’t expire without notice. I have no are more likely to reach the public. Here are some of the stories prison so they can never develop a base. other alternative. Thank you much. Anonymous that made it out. Ronald Brooks, who posted a video on Facebook about TWO DAYS into the 2018 prison strike, the Guardian published the human rights violations prisoners face, said, “We are Prison Lockdowns an op-ed article written by Kevin Rashid Johnson, incarcerated at * anti-slavery and are organizing to…turn our jails and Sussex State prison in Virginia. In it, Johnson says that prisoners Used to Deter Peaceful Protests prisons into places of human redemption, healing and who speak out on conditions of their imprisonment or who refuse "I’ve been in here more than 15 days and they are talking higher learning.” Brooks was transferred to a facility six to work are singled out and isolated from the general population. about keeping me here six more months “to deter this type hours’ drive from his family. As he wrote: of behavior“ in the future...I hope you guys will stay in touch Eddie, an organizer with Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, Apart from six months when I was in general population in in involved. I am a fighter but I need warriors on my side! which organized the strike, said that maximum security Oregon, I have been held in isolation cells without pause since In solidarity, Anonymous (2018 National Prisoner Strike prisons in South Carolina were on full lockdown 1994...I have been starved, beaten, dehydrated, put in freezing Participant) throughout the strike. “They have suspended all cold cells, attacked with attack dogs, rendered unconscious, recreation so that we are in our cells literally 24/7,” he The Slave Who Dares Question chained to a wall for weeks. There’s nothing left to fear. * told Ed Pilkington of The Guardian. “They turn back our Johnson says he’s been shipped from prison to prison, across His Living Conditions mail, threaten anyone found to be associated with the the U.S., in an effort to keep him from organizing and exposing “North Kern Delano orientation or reception center’s strike with solitary, and they’ve painted windows in our conditions to outsiders — though somehow, he’s found ways to cells are extremely hot... I have never experienced such cells black so we have no idea whether it’s night or day.” get his message out. heat and humidity. I can honestly say, that it was close to The Incarcerated Workers’ Organizing Committee, 100° or over 100° inside the cell….Obviously this won’t be But he is far from being the only organizer to be silenced. The which helped organize the strike, called on the public to fixed via 602 grievances. It is going to take a federal court type of brute force and isolation he’s faced has been repeated write solidarity letters to those in solitary and participate in district judge order. However, such an inmate grievance and elsewhere: a phone zap on behalf of people facing retaliatory action. subsequent 1983 Civil Complaint would bring the whole In 2010, a group of Georgia prisoners attempting to organize a We would like to take this moment to remind our CDCr’s wrath upon the slave who dared to question his strike were ruthlessly beaten on camera with hammers. readers that Americans are guaranteed the constitutional living conditions..."” Kinetic Justice Amun, a strike leader at Alabama’s Limestone right to protest; if a person chooses not to buy from Correctional Facility, was brutalized and maced by officers in late the commissary or eat their food, this is not a criminal Obstruction of Justice 2016. Just days prior to the 2018 strike, he was placed in solitary * offense. The retaliations faced by strike participants “The prison law library at CSP - SAC keeps denying confinement. are a clear demonstration of the power imbalance and the right to access to the court by denying exhibits to be Ronald Brooks, who had served two decades in Louisiana’s that characterizes the US prison system. copied.” ISSUE 57 15 Continuing Resistance * Statement from COMMUTE ALL 5000! Expanding Jailhouse Lawyers Speak Membership protesting inmates DROP LWOP and Supporting Prisoners’ Initiatives at Burnside Jail, Nova Editorial from The Fire Inside (Newsletter of the ’m excited to be able to say that a coalition has been California Coalition for Women Prisoners), Issue 58, Fall organized by activists both in and outside the prison walls Scotia 2018 under the guidance of Jailhouse Lawyers Speak (JLS), a I August 19, 2018 he hard work that lead to the highly successful Aug. 6, collective of incarcerated activists that span across state borders. e, the prisoners of Burnside, have united to fight 2018 Day of Action to Drop LWOP! in Sacramento, This Prisoners' Human Rights Coalition encompasses over for change. We are unified across the population 400 groups and organizations that are committed to prisoners Tinforms how we move this campaign forward. The human rights. I’m grateful to be a part of this community as Win non-violent, peaceful protest.We are calling for number of groups that participated (see Update pg. xx), an outside organizer and spokesperson on behalf of JLS as we support from the outside in solidarity with us. We believe that including so many formerly incarcerated people and family continue to work towards the fulfillment of all ten of prisoners’ it is only through collective action that change will be made. advocates, and the strong work and leadership from inside demands. We recognize that the staff in the jail are workers who are the prisons, is what gives us a solid foundation in strength, One huge theme in the National prison strike that was a new also facing injustice. We are asking for a more productive experience and determination. idea for many people: the concept that prisoners themselves rehabilitative environment that supports the wellbeing of This campaign is gaining momentum throughout the state. are capable of crafting the solutions that our criminal everyone in the system. These policy changes will also benefit Gov. Brown continues to issue commutations for people justice system is in desperate need of. During the strike, the workers in the jail.Our voices should be considered in the serving LWOP in numbers we have not ever seen, including ten beautifully-crafted demands were released by Jailhouse programming and policies for this jail. The changes we are 18 more people on August 17, 2018. Laverne Dejohnette, Lawyers Speak that presented the most critical issues and demanding to our conditions are reasonable, and must happen who has served 24 years of an LWOP sentence, is one of provided just solutions. Another theme that arose during the to support our human rights.The organizers of this protest those who just received a commutation to 25 to life. She demonstration was the shift in the responsibilities of outside assert that we are being warehoused as inmates, not treated as wrote to CCWP, “You are family, CCWP is family. You all organizers. Rather than free activists being responsible for human beings. We have tried through other means including are the reason I even put it (commutation application) in the taking the leadership in the campaigns for Criminal Justice complaint, conversation, negotiation, petitions, and other first place. I want to acknowledge CCWP in some way. If I Reform, free activists’ role was simply to support the leadership official and non-official means to improve our conditions. never got interviewed by Natasha for a living chance story of incarcerated organizers (much like the California Prisoner We now call upon our supporters outside these walls to stand project, I’d still be ‘comfortable’ being caged. I love you all Hunger Strikes of 2011 and 2013, conceived by the Short with us in protesting our treatment.We join in this protest in and I can’t wait to get out there, in there and get involved. You Corridor Collective of Pelican Bay State Prison, and supported solidarity with our brothers in prison in the United States who rock.” While we know Gov. Brown is unlikely to accomplish on the outside by the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity are calling for a prison strike from August 21st to September all of these goals by Jan. 2019, we are laying the foundation Coalition). This method of incarcerated organizers leading 9th. with outside activists supporting is one that we will continue in to continue this systems change advocacy with the next this work as a part of the coalition, allowing prisoners to take We support the demands of our comrades in the governor. Our goals include: • Commute the sentences of all 5000+ people currently serving LWOP sentences in CA the lead in the solutions that they see fit for their environment United States, and we join their call for justice. and their communities behind the wall. prisons • DROP Life Without Parole sentencing from the JLS Membership Guidelines Our demands in Nova Scotia are different, and we note Penal Code of California. • REINSTATE the California In line with this theme, it’s essential that we continue to that they are comparatively more modest. We are part of an Code of Regulations Title 15 policy that required parole expand the number of incarcerated folks who are connected international call for justice and we recognize the roots of review for people sentenced to LWOP by their 30th year of to this movement. I spoke with JLS and while they’ll this struggle in a common history of struggle and liberation. incarceration. • END all forms of in-prison discrimination continue to educate policymakers (which has been adequately We are not the first, and we will not be the last.We recognize against people serving LWOP, such as being barred from accomplished through the petition, emailing, letter writing, that the injustices we face in prison are rooted in colonialism, rehabilitation programs, including the majority of state-run social media and other forms of contact) the focus has shifted and capitalism. self-help programs; Being eligible for jobs that pay only towards expanding the membership base of their group behind the lowest hourly wage, currently eight cents per hour, the wall. Jailhouse Lawyers Speak is a collective of incarcerated We recognize that the injustices even though they are required to pay restitution. People activists that span across state borders. The strike’s call did we face in prison are rooted in serving LWOP often cannot afford to pay restitution and not reach every state, so by enlisting new members JLS will colonialism, racism and capitalism. this economic burden falls on their families; and Being be able to expand their call into more states and more prisons ineligible for Elder Parole and Compassionate Release across the nation. when aging and terminally ill. In order for an incarcerated individual to register as a August is a month rich with the history of Black struggle We want to improve people’s lives right now within the member of JLS all they need to do is write the group at the in the Americas. In 1619, the first ship carrying forcibly constraints of existing state laws, and simultaneously work secure address below with their interest in membership. In enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown, Virginia. More to fundamentally change the system. As our members inside order for a JLS member to form a committee they would need than two hundred years ago, the first successful slave revolt to write the group with their interest in membership along with created the first independent Black nation, Haiti. In the early say, “Build Hope. Keep up the Fight!” three additional members who would serve in one of each of nineteenth century, Gabriel Prosser and Nat Turner launched During the rest of 2018 and throughout 2019, we will the following roles: chair, co-chair, secretary and treasurer. their rebellions, and in 1850, after the passage of the Fugitive continue to distribute DROP LWOP postcards, petitions, Members must include their position in the committee when Slave Act, Harriet Tubman began an Underground Railroad to the Letter to the Governor and the 40-page Commutation writing JLS. Canada. A century later, the March on Washington, the Watts Guide. We will expand the statewide working group to In addition to joining JLS as an individual or a committee, uprising, and the police bombing of MOVE have marked oppose LWOP and strategize next steps forward together. there are two types of ways that they can register August as a time of great possibility and great pain.In Canada, This includes expanding our support for and working Traditional membership – identity is withheld we recognize Prisoner Justice Dayon August 10th as a time to relationships with people serving LWOP inside CA men’s General membership – identity not withheld remember all those who have died in custody in this country. prisons and their family members outside. We continue to On the letter interested members should identify whether We also acknowledge the sacrifices made by our forebears, work closely with the CCWF LWOP Support Group, CIW they’d like to be a traditional or general member. those who have fought to end the inhumane, racist treatment Lifers and LWOPs and many other advocates. It’s important that we relay this information to as many accorded prisoners. George Jackson, one of America’s DROP LWOP is part of a growing movement across the incarcerated folks as possible. Many are very interested in prominent prisoner activists, was assassinated in San Quentin country challenging Life Without Parole and other forms connecting to the organizers of the National Prison Strike but in August 1971, and his name is joined by others — Jonathan of extreme sentencing. One of the demands of the national are not informed of how to do so. We want as many incarcerated Jackson, William Christmas, James McClain, WL Nolen, prison strike (see p. 6) stated, “No human shall be sentenced people to be a part of JLS as possible in preparation for the and others.In August 1978 in San Quentin, activist Khatari to Death by Incarceration or serve any sentence without the next call to action. Gaulden died after being refused adequate health care for an possibility of parole.” In Pennsylvania, The Coalition to JLS is also seeking outside support for those interested injury suffered under mysterious circumstances. To honour End Death by Incarceration has been organizing for several in being apart of the Millions for Prisoners Human Rights his name and to fight for prison justice, a coalition of activists, years and is now working to pass Senate Bill 942 which Committee. This committee will be focused on organizing a inside and outside the prison walls, formed the Black August would make everyone parole eligible after 15 years. In New Millions for Prisoners march, an event that will take place next year. We are in the midst of consolidating prisoner led initiatives Organizing Committee. Starting in the “concentration camps” York, activists have cited the number of commutations that as they relate to the demands of the National Prison Strike. of California, Black August strikes swept through prisons Gov. Brown has signed to put pressure on NY Gov. Cuomo Please contact me with any Prisoner led initiatives that across America. In this tradition and together with those to grant more commutations. Learning about strategies in you’re involved in, to be added to this list: imprisoned south of the border, we, the prisoners of Burnside other parts of the U.S. and joining forces with these groups Right2Vote Campaign- National continue this legacy. We are not violent, we are standing up is essential to ending the barbaric sentence of Life Without Reinstate Good Time – Michigan for simple issues of human justice. We are organized together Parole. ● Rescinding the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act because conditions must change. (AEDPA) – Michigan & Missouri Mandatory Staff Training & Psychological Evaluations – Missouri ...We recognize that the prison industrial complex is intended “What a movement! I never believed I would see it Satisfactory Medical Care and Sanitary Food Preparation – Georgia to divide us. We are unified in our purpose. They cannot in my lifetime, this thing called ‘HOPE.’” Community/Civilian based Parole Board – Maryland and segregate us all.We call upon all people with a conscience Judith Barnett, CCWF Pennsylvania beyond the bars to join us in sharing this statement, in writing Reformation of detention centers, jails and prisons isn’t the Minister of Justice, your MLA, and the Department of Statement of Solidarity by Unite the People the end goal, but the more that we reform the way that these Justice to support our demands, to commit to learning more * institutions are currently functioning, the closer we get to Published in Unite the People’s Newsletter, about the conditions in this province’s jails, and in taking November 2018 abolishing them altogether and replacing them with safe spaces actions in solidarity with our struggle.We send a message of Unite the People stands in solidarity with participants in where people can receive the individualized care that they need hope to our comrades in prisons all across this country and in order to address the trauma and other negative influences prison strikes. We acknowledge that there is a fundamental the world. that led to any behaviors that would have contributed to their lack of respect for human life that is embedded in our “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one incarceration. I know that I will see this in my lifetime and nation’s penal ideology. We acknowledge and fight for has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged I’m excited to be a part of a community that also values and the men and women who are demanding basic human by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” cherishes this goal In Solidarity, Amani Sawari (sawarimi.org) —Nelson Mandela needs, humane living conditions, access to rehabilitation, Contact Information: sentencing reform, and the end of modern day slavery. To see list of demands, see full article at http://libcom.org/ Amani Sawari Jailhouse Lawyers Speak (See page 20 for more about Unite the People and the 14419 Greenwood Ave N. Ste A #132 P.O. Box 1076 news/statement-protesting-inmates-burnside-jail-nova- Seattle, WA 98133 Knightdale NC 27545 scotia-19082018 ● resources they offer.)

16 PRISON FOCUS is assigned the responsibility to assess the risk level of “Are there any solutions for genuine change and hope persons charged with the commission of a crime, report * Expanding Our Objectives for those within the belly of the beast? Yes!...This can Dear Prison Focus and Advocate Supporters, I write to you in happen when concerned individuals start refusing to the results of the risk determination to the court, and make recommendations for conditions of release of individuals hopes to appeal to your sense of fairness and to all who continue allow elected officials to get away with offering simple to lend support to those of us who find ourselves trapped behind minded solutions to such complex problems as the prison pending adjudication of their criminal case. This bill ends these prison walls. Now my reasons for writing are to address issues of our time…” Arthur G. Jones Sr. cash money bail in California. AB 2845 by Bonta - Pardon & Commutation Reform the issues of mass and long-term incarceration of many of the Act : Increases transparency and accessibility in the brothers and sisters within the CA and U.S. criminal justice Legislative Update pardon and commutation process, including a requirement system. I understand that your primary focus is the abolishing of Passed and Signed for BPH to notify applicants when they receive a pardon solitary confinement and it’s a noble and just cause as I personally AB 2550 by Weber- Prisons: female inmates and or commutation application, and when they issue a have spent over 16 years trapped in the California Ad-Seg and male correctional officers: Prevents male officers from recommendation to the Governor. Security Housing Units (SHU). But my focus cannot simply be performing pat down searches of female inmates or entering SB 960 by Leyva - Annual Reporting on Suicides: to shut down the SHU, yet still linger ‘til death inside of prison. areas where female inmates are likely to be undressed, Requires annual CDCR reporting on suicides, suicide This is why I ask you and the many supporters on the outside unless there is imminent danger of harm to the inmate or attempts, and training compliance. Legislates that CDCR to consider the expansion of your objectives. Your paper has the others, or unless a female officer is not available. It will be must make changes to its emergency notification policy. ability to reach hundreds of thousands, or millions. And in this effective January 1, 2018. This provision addresses a devastating and dangerous position you have the ability to reach a large body to encourage SB 1391 by Lara- Juveniles: fitness for juvenile court: pattern of by CDCR, with family members that they use their voice to overhaul the Antiterrorism and Amends Prop. 57, as allowed in the language and consistent receiving delayed or no notification about their loved Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), which is one of with and in furtherance of the intent of proposition, one’s death or serious injury, including suicide attempts. the greatest factors preventing many of us, myself included, from regarding the authority of the District Attorney relative to Pending or Failed even gaining access to the Federal Appeal Courts to file habeas juvenile offenders...This bill repealed the authority ofa AB 665 by Levine - Military personnel: veterans: corpus petitions because of procedural grounds. I believe that district attorney to make a motion to transfer a minor from resentencing: mitigating circumstances: Would have an effort should be undertaken to politically lobby our state and juvenile court to adult court for those minors alleged to have authorize any person who was sentenced for a felony federal representatives to put forth a bill to amend the AEDPA, committed specified serious offenses when he or she was 14 conviction prior to January 1, 2015, and who is, or was, which governs petitions under 28 USC § 2254 for writ of habeas or 15 years of age. a member of the United States military and who may be corpus by state prisons. SB 1437 by Skinner - Accomplice liability for felony murder suffering from suffering from sexual trauma, traumatic We must use our minds, voices, votes and resources Changes the felony murder rule, through legal language brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance in the best manner possible to achieve the greatest that would removes malice from consideration in a crime abuse, or mental health problems as a result of his or her result to affect the greatest number of individuals. unless the individual charged personally committed the military service, to petition for a recall of sentence under I’ve lingered within these prison walls on these level four yards, homicidal act, acted with premeditated intent to aid and abet specified conditions. and I’ve seen the horrors and the decline of the outside advocacy that act where in death occurred or the person was a major AB 1940 by McCarty - Parole: reintegration credits: individuals and groups, and rightly so in many regards, because participant in the underlying felony and acted in reckless Would have created an earned discharge program to allow I’ve seen the decline from within of the prisoner advocate[s] indifference to human life. It would also be retrospective, those on parole to earn credits toward their parole discharge based upon racial and tribal lines, and even with the reduction providing a method of resentencing those convicted of first date through accomplishment of various educational, of the SHU population and returning of many of the cats to the or second-degree murder under the felony murder rule or the vocational and public service activities. Lifers, subject to general population, it continues sadly. But I do not and will not use natural and probable consequences doctrine. possible lifetime parole, could earn credits toward their this as an excuse to stop my fight to bring change to the criminal AB 2942 by Ting– Criminal procedure: recall of sentencing discharge review date via the same activities. Parolees justice system and ease mass long-term incarceration. I ask you to Allows the court to also recall and resentence upon the would have been able to earn as much as 12 months lend your voice and help to bring the issue of exclusion from the recommendation of the district attorney of the county credit toward their discharge or discharge review date in state and federal courts on grounds of procedural bars to have our in which a defendant was sentenced. The bill authorizes a 12-month period, as would have increased the distance claims heard by writ of habeas corpus on the merits of our claims. certain inmates, having served a specified portion of their they are allowed to travel without written permission from I hope that we can all put our heads together to come up with sentence, to request the district attorney of the county in their parole agent. a plan to bring about a comprehensive change to the criminal which they were sentenced to make a recommendation This bill Failed, unable to make it out of the Assembly justice system. Respectfully, Barry Woods to the sentencing court for recall and resentence. The bill Public Safety Committee on a tie vote. (Initiate Justice will would require an inmate to make the request in writing and continue it’s campaign working with Assemblymember Taking Matters Into Our Own Hands provide reasons, as specified, for the district attorney to McCarty to reintroduce a similar bill in 2019) Hello* and good day! I am contacting you as I have two Section make such a recommendation. AB 3131 by Gloria - Law enforcement agencies: 1983 prisoner rights cases pending currently in the U.E. District SB 1050 by Lara- Exonerated inmates: Relieve a person military equipment: funding, acquisition & use: Court – Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn), and I am hoping from the requirement to continue to register as a sex offender Would have limited police access to military equipment to bring attention to the public about the cases. under those provisions if the person is exonerated, as by requiring transparency and accountability at the local The Civil docket numbers for the cases are: described, and he or she is not otherwise required to register. level. This Bill was vetoed. 1:18-CV-1627-PKC-RML SB 215 by Beall – Diversion: mental disorders: Authorizes SB 1242 by Newman - Parole: This would have added 1:18-CV-2397-PKC-RML a court to grant pretrial diversion, for a period no longer than language requiring additional conditions to granting Both cases deal with the continuous abuse and mistreatment 2 years, to a defendant suffering from a mental disorder, parole be codified, including demonstration of remorse I’ve sustained as a detainee at the Brooklyn Detention Complex, on an accusatory pleading alleging the commission of and insight, reasonable time free of disciplinary, realistic and numerous denials of my access to medical care. I have been a misdemeanor or felony offense, in order to allow the post release plans, all of which are already part of parole successful in receiving minimal press coverage about these abuses defendant to undergo mental health treatment. consideration, though not in legal terms. In some way this ("NYC Inmates Call 311 To Report Mistreatment, But Is Anyone SB 439 by Mitchell – Jurisdiction of the juvenile court: bill impinges on the discretion of the BPH yet gives no Listening?" June 2018, at http://gothamist.com/2018/07/11/ Establishes 12 years of age as the minimum age for which specific standards/guidelines. More importantly, and the prisoners_311_nyc_complaints.php), but my rights, and the rights the juvenile court has jurisdiction and may adjudge a person real purpose of the bill, is be exclude from Youth Offender of other prisoners here at the BKDC continue to be violated. a ward of the court Parole Hearings consideration, those prisoners whose As a person with an extensive medical history, the of SB 1412 by Bradford - Applicants for employment: victim was a peace officer or former peace officer. This my right to adequate medical care puts me in danger…I fear criminal history. Requires employers only consider bill was referred to the Assembly Committee on Public that I will die here in jail due to an incompetent medical staff Safety in June, where it remains stalled. Action possible convictions relevant to the job which is being applied for when and a dysfunctional grievance system. My pleas to administrative when the legislature reconvenes. screening job applicants using a criminal background check. entities via the inmate grievance and request program continue Source: American Friends Service Committee. SB 1393 by Mitchell – Sentencing: Allows a judge to go unanswered or ignored, and my letters to prisoners’ rights discretion to strike a prior serious felony conviction to avoid groups and city and state politicians yield non-responses the imposition of the five-year prison enhancement when Comments on SB 10 from the California Thus, I have been forced to pursue these legal channels, where the defendant has been previously convicted of a felony. I am seeking an injunction and damages due to this draconian SB 1421 by Skinner- Peace officers: release of records: Coalition for Women Prisoners: While this bill was initially supported by CCWP and Brooklyn “correctional” facility. I am hoping to bring a systematic Holds police accountable by allowing public access to change to the brutal and unfair policies here at the BKDC. And this police records relating to: deadly/serious use of force, and many other progressive organizations, it was substantially changed—not for the better—and now many of us do is what brings me to contact you, in the hopes that you can help proven sexual assault and dishonesty related to the reporting/ raise awareness about our plight. In Solidarity, Jonas Caballero, investigation/prosecution of crimes. NOT support it. SB 10 makes CA the first US state to AB 2533 by Stone - Inmates: indigence: This bill would fully eliminate cash bail, abolishing the practice that has Mphil (Fulbright Scholar, University of Cambridge, UK) require that an inmate in a state prison who has maintained allowed wealthy criminal defendants to buy their freedom an inmate trust account with $25 or less for 30 consecutive pre-trial while people without money stay locked up for days be deemed indigent. The bill would require that an minor charges. While there was bipartisan agreement *Our Last Defense inmate who is indigent receive basic supplies necessary that cash bail reinforces inequality in the criminal justice Greetings to you all. I was handed a copy of your latest for maintaining personal hygiene and be provided with system—increasing mass incarceration by forcing low- newsletter today. Nearly every page was saturated with disturbing sufficient resources to communicate with and access the income defendants to spend months or longer behind bars commentary and excerpts of prison guard brutality and indifference courts, as specified. without a conviction while losing their jobs, homes and to the civil rights that all men and women are entitled to, as human- AB 1793 by Bonta - Cannabis convictions: resentencing: families SB 10 as passed does NOT change this reality. beings. The unfortunate truth is that what I read in your newsletter Require the Department of Justice, before July 1, 2019, to SB 10 calls for an assessment “algorithm” to create is a common occurrence within the California Department of review the records in the state summary criminal history an individual “risk score” that supposedly reveals the Corrections and Rehabilitations (CDCR). I, myself, have been so information database and to identify past convictions that likelihood of re-arrest or failure to appear in court if released. victimized by CDCR prison guards and/or their proxy group of are potentially eligible for recall or dismissal of sentence, Computer software would compare one person with other inmate agitators over the years, that I have become numb to the dismissal and sealing pursuant to the Adult Use of Marijuana people with “similar profiles,” which means using data from fear or the pressures of conformity. My primary goal is freedom, Act. The bill would require the prosecution to, on or before a criminal justice system that has already been documented but as I strive toward that end through litigation in the courts, I use July 1, 2020, review all cases and determine whether to as discriminatory at every step – including racial in the legal skills I have developed to attack and expose the sadistic police stops, searches and arrests. The new law gives courts challenge the resentencing, dismissal and sealing of the case. and perverse coalition of injustice that permeates around me. In far-reaching authority to determine if someone is a “public SB 10 - Pre-trial release or detention: pre-trial services: reading the horrendous details of [Note: See report safety threat,” giving local authorities wide discretion to Requires commencing October 1, 2019, persons arrested in Prison Focus Issue 56, pg. 10], the thought that repeatedly came decide what is considered “high risk”. This potentially and detained to be subject to a pretrial risk assessment to my mind was, “Why haven’t they filed a 42 U.S.C. Section makes it easier for prosecutors and judges to keep people in conducted by Pretrial Assessment Services, which the 1983 Federal Civil Rights lawsuit?” But I know that many would jail, and expands the use of technology that could intensify bill would define as an entity, division, or program that answer, “I don’t know how.” It is sad that the very weapon given racial biases in pre-trial detention. ISSUE 57 17 us as prisoners to best deal with mistreatment in prisons, butter he returned. This is extremely legitimate because the single right. We must remember that practically every single the instrument to defend and redress the problem, is the last majority of prisoners have little to no funds to their name. right we have in prison is because some JL filed on it. So next that we are willing to learn how to employ. As the Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook states, “Many people time you get free soap, or help from a law library, or an extra I’ve litigated a number of prisoner lawsuits in pro se. Just say Congress believed a story that was told to them by hour on the b-ball court, spare a thought for the unsung hero in August (2018) I tried one in the U.S.D.C. Eastern District states tired of spending money to defend themselves against who made that happen for you, and every other inmate.” California (Washington vs. Essex, et.al. USDC Ed Cal. prisoner lawsuits. In this story, prisoners file mountains of “It is extremely stressful at times considering the limited No. 121 CV-030540JAM-DB). As I always tell a fellow unimportant lawsuits because they have time on their hands, and outdated materials we have, but once all the facts and prisoner seeking advice on how to deal with harassing and enjoy harassing the government. The obvious truth – other necessary information is gathered together it is satisfying guards, when you recognize that they fit the that prisoners file a lot of lawsuits because they are subjected to prepare the motions, writs, etc. and I feel an immense joy of a racist or bigot, you write them up preemptively. The to a lot of unjust treatment – was ignored.” when something positive happens for the person I’ve helped. worst guard on a prison yard is considered a “by the book” According to the PLRA, before prisoners are allowed to Helping people here in this prison gives me a sense of pride employee if, despite their known brutality, nobody has filed challenge a condition of their confinement in federal court, and a rewarding feeling. Two sensations I have not felt in any grievances against him/her. they must first exhaust available administrative remedies many years. I now have a sense of fulfillment and joy from In regards to those inmates who perform the “dirty deeds” by pursuing to completion whichever grievance or appeal partaking in something that I had always thought was difficult of the guards for minor perks and privileges i.e., cellphone, procedures the prison administration provides. Even a lawyer and boring.” tobacco, job, etc., this is a product of the prison environment cannot do anything until the individual goes through several When we move from the individual to creating change on bureaucratic layers. This can be very difficult. The author of a larger scale, making noticeable improvements in prison that, as obnoxious as it is, can hardly be curtailed because an article titled Another Clinton-Era Law That Needs to be conditions requires not only legal recourse but also an the breakdown of the prisoner population is so complex. Repealed, puts it well: “Imagine a prisoner who is in pain organized resistance. As the Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook Some prisoners have no outside financial support so they and in need of medical treatment, but ignored by prison staff: states, “sell their souls” to the guards. Others may have sentences She must not only file her complaint with the same staff that that exceed a lifetime so they shed all of the attributes that is denying her treatment, but wait for a refusal, appeal that “Only a strong prison movement can win define a person as a human-being and drift into acts of decision, and only after a judgment on that appeal can she and enforce significant legal victories. But depravity, predatory and wanton violence, accepting tokens then file a legal case beyond prison walls.” To further this the prison movement can also use court from the guards in exchange for assailing against another sentiment, a New Yorker article from May 2016 called, Why prisoner on their behalf. action to help build its political strength.” It’s Nearly Impossible for Prisoners to Sue Prisons states, What was once a weapon against these types of prisoners, “Around half of all prisoners in the United States have some A good example of this is the California Hunger Strike of is/are books and material on race, history, politics and sort of mental illness, and a similar proportion has only basic 2013. carceral thinking. I recall how a book like Cointelpro literacy skills (at best), but courts have frequently ruled that The initial coordinated CA hunger strike was in 2011, when Papers, or Seize the Time and others awakened me to the neither mental illness nor illiteracy excuses an inmate from over 12,000 prisoners and their family/community members various methods that a government agency would employ the exhaustion requirement of the PLRA. Juveniles are not participated in statewide hunger strikes protesting the in order to keep people divided and their weapons pointed exempt, either.” The article cites an example in which a inhumane conditions in the SHU (Segregated Housing Unit). at each other rather than the true source of the problems. teenager filed a lawsuit stating that he was repeatedly raped Following the strike, their demands for reform had not been Tracye B. Washington and beaten by other prisoners who were following what met, and so another coordinated hunger strike was held in guards told them to do. The suit was dismissed because 2013, involving 30,000 CA prisoners. The strike even spread the teen didn’t file a formal grievance first, even though his to prisoners in other states and in other countries. There were mother contacted prison officials. many outside calls for solidarity, and news of the largest It is extremely common for a prisoner to experience hunger strike in history brought a large amount of attention to retaliation by guards for even filing a grievance or mainstream media and therefore also the public at large. helping others to do so. When asking NLG jailhouse Simultaneously, Ashker v. Governor of California, brought lawyer members what their experiences are like doing about by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) starting in legal work behind bars, responses ranges from Correctional 2012, was a federal class action lawsuit on behalf of prisoners Officers throwing out completed grievance forms in front of held in the SHU at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison prisoners, to being thrown in solitary confinement or being who had spent a decade or more in solitary confinement. transferred to another prison. Another problem is that even The focus of the suit was that prolonged solitary violates the if staff were following the rules, there wouldn’t be enough Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual of them to handle all the complaints. As one prisoner in punishment. The suit also charged that prisoners are denied Michigan wrote, “The sad truth is that prisoners often have any meaningful review of their SHU placement. California a difficult time obtaining adequate administrative remedies imposed extremely prolonged solitary confinement based through the grievance system. Largely because staff within merely on a prisoner’s alleged association with a prison gang. our institutions responsible for investigating grievances are Gang “affiliation” was assessed without considering whether often overwhelmed with grievances.” What’s more, prisoners a prisoner is – or ever was – actually involved in gang activity. cannot file a lawsuit for mental or emotional injury without The named plaintiffs included several leaders and participants also showing physical injury, which can lead to abuse to from the hunger strikes. occur without any accountability. At least in 2013, with the In 2015, the plaintiffs and the State of California agreed Violence Against Women Act, the PLRA was amended to on a landmark settlement that ended the use of indeterminate include sexual assault as well even if physical injury is not solitary confinement in prisons across CA as well asthe medically apparent. In addition to all of this, the PLRA limits use of “gang affiliation” as a basis for placing people in the court’s ability to make prison officials pay for attorneys’ isolation. Several other key reforms were made, all related fees if a case against them is won – which means there is no to the use of solitary. The weight of the resistance movement By David Perryman monetary incentive for lawyers to take these cases. in conjunction with the courtroom battle was necessary in If the PLRA were repealed, it would be an important step order for such a meaningful result to occur. As the plaintiffs towards allowing prisoners to hold prison administrations stated, “This settlement represents a monumental victory for Struggles of Using accountable for their collective actions or neglect. There prisoners and an important step toward our goal of ending Legal Recourse as a would perhaps be a more level playing field, and prisoners solitary confinement in California, and across the country. might gain a greater sense of dignity having a legal method California’s agreement to abandon indeterminate SHU Path Toward Better of recourse be more attainable. There also might be more confinement based on gang affiliation demonstrates the power Prison Conditions lawyers willing to represent prisoners in civil suits if they of unity and collective action. This victory was achieved by the efforts of people in prison, their families and loved ones, By Lisa Drapkin, NLG Membership Director could expect to be compensated for their work. Currently lawyers, and outside supporters.” Posted on January 15, 2018 at though, jailhouse lawyers face a steep uphill battle when https://www.nlg.org/struggles-of-using-legal-recourse-as-a-path- it comes to fighting for the rights of themselves and other Unfortunately, two years after the settlement, CCR found toward-better-prison-conditions/ prisoners. many violations taking place. As they stated in November t seems there could never be enough legal support to help Despite the many hurdles they face, the jailhouse lawyer 2017, “Two years later, California has failed to make the the millions of prisoners who would benefit from having a members of the National Lawyers Guild take their efforts requisite reforms to bring their prisons into compliance with lawyer at arms’ length. Whether it is lack of medical care, very seriously and are proud of the skills they have gained, due process.“ The violations included hundreds of prisoners I especially when it comes to being able to help others. To formerly held in SHU being transferred to Level IV prisons abhorrent nutrition, exposure to extreme temperatures, lack of clean water, or brutality by prison guards, there are endless give some examples, here are just a few of the sentiments where conditions were very similar to SHU. Because a legal inhumane conditions prisoners are forced to live through on that jailhouse lawyers in various states across the country settlement did not provide instant relief for all, coordinated a daily basis. The National Lawyers Guild’s National Office have shared with us: efforts to resist solitary confinement from the inside and the receives letter after letter from prisoners, mainly requesting “I’ve been helping a paraplegic in a lawsuit for nearly 3 outside are still needed. For example, groups like the Prisoner a copy of the Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook (a resource for years now. When he came to this unit, they were not up to Advocacy Network (PAN) of the National Lawyers Guild’s prisoners who wish to file a federal lawsuit addressing poor code to house a paraplegic in a wheelchair. So grievances San Francisco Chapter seek to strengthen these efforts by conditions in prison or abuse by prison staff), but many also were filed under the ADA. After it was filed, he injured providing advocacy for activists on the inside. As their hope that they can obtain help from a lawyer to stand up himself trying to take a shower. He fell out of a regular website states, “Following California hunger strikes, loved against the prison administration on their behalf. One of the plastic chair. Now, the unit has added accommodations for ones of people suffering from solitary confinement alerted the reasons why there are not more lawyers to help prisoners wheelchairs and installed chair seats in the shower for them, NLGSF to the need for individualized advocacy. Though a with civil suits is because of the Prison Litigation Reform but a little too late in his case. We’ve forced them to remodel recent settlement agreement in the Ashker v. Brown suit will Act (PLRA). the recreation yard’s restroom facility so that inmates with result in many transfers, we know CDCR will continue to The PLRA is a federal law that was enacted in 1996 under wheelchairs can use it. I am expecting good things from a deny appropriate care and conditions, involuntarily segregate, President Clinton. Congress enacted the law in response related case that will help other inmates in the future while mistreat, and retaliate against people.” to a significant increase in prisoner litigation in the federal here.” Whether on an individual or large-scale level, attempts to courts. A misconstrued case was supposedly the impetus “From the moment I first helped someone with the most use legal recourse as a path toward better prison conditions for the PLRA coming about, one in which a prisoner filed minor appeals process, and I saw the hope come alive in will face many obstacles. Of course, there are other suit over receiving crunchy peanut butter instead of creamy. their face, I knew I would be a Jailhouse Lawyer. We have to approaches that do not involve the law, as seen by recent However the facts of this case were incorrect, and instead it fight. We have to hold those accountable who hold us captive. prison riots and uprisings, including the largest coordinated was about a prisoner not receiving a refund for a jar of peanut We must speak out at every opportunity, and demand every prison strike in U.S. history in September 2016, which

18 PRISON FOCUS included the Kinross Rebellion by Michigan prisoners. There ●● Lt. Duck then stated to me ‘’I’ll teach you to sue us.’’ something similar. This refers to a section of Federal or was also the Delaware Vaughn Rebellion in February 2017, And moved quickly into my cell. State Constitution, or is a statute which part of the opinion­ and countless other examples from last year alone. Members ●● Lt. Duck then sprayed me with pepper spray. has interpreted or construed. On the next line you will see of the Prisoners Legal Advocacy Network of the NLG New ●● Sgt. Leghorn grabbed me by the hair and started to drag the case cited. Jersey/Delaware Chapter gathered information about the me out of the cell. Finally, we reach the end of this topic section. You know severe repression prisoners faced in the aftermath of some ●● Officer Porky grabbed my left arm and helped remove you’ve gotten to the end because you found another key. of these protests. A planned strike in Florida prisons will me from the cell. This one is labeled 13(5) Segregation and Solitary Con­ begin starting on Martin Luther King Day of 2018. Florida ●● While being removed, l tripped and fell on the floor. finement; Classification. prisoners withstand brutally repressive conditions by guards ●● As l lay on the floor, Sgt. Hillbilly kicked me several Now the last thing you want to do is look in the back. with no recourse, as prisoner and activist Kevin “Rashid” times in the chest and face. What you should find is a paper pamphlet which is Johnson explained: “On a literal daily basis prisoners are Well, by now you should have a pretty good idea what I’m the pocket part. This will list cases after the hard cover gassed, tortured and/or brutally beaten by guards with the full talking about. You continue to tell your story and don’t forget book was printed. It will give you the most recent case complicity of medical and mental health staff. As part of this to list any and all potential witnesses. Next, list any prison published. Taking your key number, which is 13(4), flip culture of abuse, grievance officials routinely trash prisoners’ rule or regulation concerning your problem. When you get a through the pocket part and match it to the right section attempts to grieve their mistreatment. This is to eliminate any chance to speak with your witnesses, ask them to write down using the same method we used previously. records of the abuses and to frustrate any potential attempts what they saw, and have them sign and date it. You want to CITES at litigation.” On top of this, demands of the strikers include write your narrative as soon as possible after the dirty deed One of the most important things you’ll need to learn is receiving actual payment for their labor and an end to the has been done, while the details are still fresh in your mind. how to read cites. Don’t worry ... it’s as easy as read­ing a price gouging that occurs because prisoners pay exorbitantly Next, you want to formulate legal questions, for example: racing form. higher amounts for items in the prison commissary than they ●● Does Officer Snout have to inform me why I’m being Let’s use as an example On vWhite 813 F2d 318 would on the outside. placed in Secure Housing Unit? rehearing denied 818 F2d 871. What this tells us first is Legal advocates should not lose sight of chipping away at ●● Can Lt. Duck, Sgt. Leghorn, Officer Porky, and Sgt. that Ort is the plaintiff and White is the defendant. 813 is least the most unjust parts of the PLRA as a goal. Although Hillbilly beat me up? the volume where the case can be found. F2d tells you the despite the barriers, it’s clear that prisoners – from jailhouse As you do your legal research, you’ll probably want to set of reports or reporters where the case is published. 318 lawyer to strike organizer – have found ways to fight for the rewrite your questions, for example: tells us the page this case begins on. So we know that we humanity they deserve. In turn, they will continue to need as ●● Do I have the right to be informed of why I’m being can find this case in volume 813 of the Federal Reporter many outside supporters in solidarity as they can get. placed in the Secure Housing Unit? Second Series. The phrase “rehearing denied 818 F2d The NLG is the only bar association that admits jailhouse ●● Does Officer Snout’s failure to inform me of the reasons 871” tells what happened with this case at a later stage, lawyers as members, and does so at no cost to incarcerated why I’m being placed in the Secure Housing Unit and where we can find it. members (dues are waived). To become a NLG member, violate my right to due process? In your legal documents, make sure you have the proper jailhouse lawyers may write to the NLG at 132 Nassau St., ●● Did Duck, Leghorn, Porky, and Hillbilly use minimum citation format by referring to the book “A Uniform System Rm. 922, New York, NY 10038 ● force when removing me from the cell? of Citation.” Most of the time, the official cite is printed ●● Are Duck, Leghorn, Porky, and Hillbilly’s actions above the case name in “West’s” or look at the “Table of considered a use of excessive force? Cases” volume of the Federal Practices Digest, or the one Legal Research When writing your legal questions, you have to assume from the region where your case is reported. By Mike Lee you are going to trial with this thing, so you need to: READING THE CASE Published in the 2000-2001 Prisoner and Prison Activist ●● Establish that the facts are true For this next section you will have to actually go and Resource Guide ●● That your rights were violated look up the following case: Ort v Whit􀁭 813 F2d 318 here is nothing easy about doing legal research. It is ●● That you suffered injuries for which you are demanding rehearing denied 818 F2d 871. Again look it over briefly. a tedious process which calls for paying attention to damages for You will see the parties listed, followed by a synopsis of Ta lot of detail. When you start to spend time in your Don’t include legal questions that you have no proof for. the case. Again, the synopsis should not be quoted in any law library, you may feel a little overwhelmed at first. I know For instance, just because you know that Snout is a member­ le­gal document you file. Following the synopsis are short I did, but because of my personal motivation, I slogged my of the KKK, can you prove it? If not, forget about it. paragraphs called “head notes”. Each head note has a num­ way through, asked tons of questions, and I’m fortunate to be GETTING STARTED ber, a word or short phrase, and a key followed by a num­ surrounded by people who have some pretty extensive self- Take a walk around your law library. Familiarize yourself ber. Each head note paragraph corresponds to a section in taught legal knowledge. with where everything is. The hardest part of legal research is the body of the actual court decision. For instance, para­ Legal research is only important if you want to make getting started. What I’ve found to be the quick­est way is by graph 3 in the opinion corresponds to head note [3]. Check sure the screws can’t drop a ton of bricks on you by writing using “digests”, which are multi-volume sets of books which it out for yourself ... pick a head note, then turn to where some bullshit “shot”, extracting you from your cell, or just collect all the head-notes from West reporters. There are three the actual case begins and go to the third paragraph, which generally stepping on you. Just ‘cause you’re in prison distinct sets you’ll be working-with. The Fed­eral Practice is marked with the number 3. Bingo! Aren’t you pleased doesn’t mean you don’t retain certain rights ... and I’m not Digest which covers Federal courts, General Digest which with yourself? Before reading further, make a note of the talking about the right to be provided with a certain brand covers all courts, and the Decennial Digest which collects head note numbers which seem of most interest to you. of pea­nut butter or to have fried chicken for Sunday dinners. everything from the General Digest in ten-year blocks. All BRIEFING I’m talking about your rights as defined by the Constitution. the digests are organized in the same way. For the purpose of Once you find a case that is similar in circum­stances Legal research is also important if you want to make sure the this article I’m using Federal Practice Digest 4th edition, but and/ or fact to yours, you should do two things; read the screws and prisoncrats are respecting your rights. Any time I could have been using any one of the three sets mentioned. whole case and brief it. Briefing means writing a short they do something to you (destroy your property, etc.), the After deciding which digest to start with, you want to look analysis and evaluation of the case. This will help you first question you should ask is “Can they do this to me?” at the “spine”, which will tell you what’s inside. See if you un­derstand what the case means. I can’t stress the impor­ The next question is “If they can’t do this to me, what can I can find the volume on prisons. Find it? Great! tance of discussing what you read with other folks. I have do about it?” Through legal research, you form the basis for Turning to the section you will find an outline of this personally found this very helpful in formulating possible making damn sure they don’t bust your stuff up. particular topic, which at this point is very broad. Let’s see if theories and points of attack. Briefing is also the most use­ Effective legal research begins with good work hab­its. This we can narrow our search down a bit. ful way to take notes on your research so you won’t have is a process of using your brain, and as such is a physical Pay careful attention to the numbers that are dis­played to to go back and reread the case. Be aware when reading any one. Get as much sleep and try to eat as well as you can. Get the left of each entry. The outside number (the one without case that there are two distinct parts. The holding, which up off your ass and take a walk around the yard or engage parentheses) marks that phrase as the subject head, and the is the court’s actual ruling on the facts before it, and the in physical activities which exercise your body. De­velop a smaller one (the one with parentheses) is the subhead. So for dictum, which are statements by the judges about what the methodical way of doing your research. Most im­portantly, instance, let’s say you’re researching the is­sue of excessive law might be on some other set of facts. Your goal in brief­ set aside time each day to read not only legal books but also force. Looking down the outline, we see that at 13 it lists the ing a case is that you are “looking for those questions of educational and political materials as well. heading as being “Custody and Control of Prisoners”. We next law that the court had to resolve to render a decision, and Before beginning any type of research, you want to be sure look at the smaller numbers, which we know are subheads, the holdings the court had to make to render a decision.” of your motivations and how important it is to you personally. and (4) lists Particular violations, pun­ishments, use of force. It is important that you read the whole case, but you At times you will need a strong sense of motiva­tion to keep So now we have a starting point; key number 13, subsection may have to brief only part of it. For instance, lets say going. This isn’t Mickey D’s and it takes one hell of a lot (4). Together these numbers serve as “key numbers”. They that the case you are dealing with includes claims that the more work than watching 1V or reading a Jackie Collins are called that because like a key opens a door, each number snouts beat the crap out of Joe Convict, then denied Joe novel. unlocks certain specific infor­mation. In order to open the right medical care and burned all his mail. If your case deals Let’s be absolutely clear on the context which we are door, you need the right key. with interference of mail, you may only be interested in talking about. Legal research is ultimately a search for facts, Don’t worry, you can’t get lost thumbing through this the part where the Court addresses the fact that Joe got his and those facts determine the legal questions you must monstrous book, because at the top of nearly every page you mail burned, and you would only have to brief that part. research. In order to determine what the facts are, write down will see a number. Go ahead and flip through the pages and try The source book I’m using recommends the following in detail your problem in a story form. You need to answer to find the correct section, which is again 13(4). As you tum method for briefing a case: several questions: pages, notice that the numbers go from 4(2) to 4(3) to 4(4), A. Facts ●● What happened? etc. OK, there’s 13, there’s 13(1) ... here it is, 13(4). Look State in a short paragraph the precise facts in a case you ●● To whom did it happen? over the page carefully. If you’re like me in my old age, you are briefing. ●● When did it happen? need a magnifying glass to find where this topic section be­ B. Judicial History ●● Where did it happen? gins. Ah ha! I’ve found it! The reason I know I’m on the right This short paragraph will state the history of the case, ●● How did it happen? track is that I’ve found a picture of a key followed by 13(4) which is generally summarized by the court. Each detail should have its own numbered paragraph. followed by the phrase “Particular violations, punishments C. Issue For example: and depravations; use of force.” Usually there is more than one issue in a decision, and ●● On August I 4, 1998, Officer Snout came into my cell What follows are a series of paragraphs called head notes. each decision should be stated in a separate short para­ and stated I was being sent to the Secure Housing Unit. Each one begins with bold face type that looks something­ graph. ●● I asked Snout the reason why and he told me “You’ll like this: C.A. 11 (Ala) 1991 which tells you the court, D. Result/Holding find out.” district, state that decided the case, and in what year. Next is a The holding of the court tells you what the court said ●● Approximately five minutes later, Officer Porky, Lt. synopsis of the legal issues in this particular case. You should about the issue. There may be more than one result/ Daffy Duck, and Sgt.’s Rooster Leghorn and Billy never include this synopsis in your legal paperwork because holding, and each of these should be listed separately. Bob Hillbilly joined Officer Snout, who was standing it is written by the author and is not the actual court ruling. E. Reasoning/Rationale directly in front of the cell door. What you may see after this section is Const. Amend 14, or You want to state exactly what reasons the court used

ISSUE 57 19 in the decision to reach each of its holdings. The rationale I know the authorities are really hard headed at times and of habeas corpus filed in California Superior Court for an consists of the rule of law and the facts found by the court in tend to repeat past mistakes. When they do, you’ve already inmate who would otherwise have been eligible for release the present case to support its rule of law. got the information necessary to make them back off. under Prop 57 (but was blocked by CDCR) will be granted. F. Subsequent Judicial History Develop outside support people, groups, committees. “You will need to Shepardize the citation to determine Let me be quite honest and say there are very few Free whether the case was appealed to a higher appellate court World people who really give a shit about Prisoners. Most 1170(d)(1): California Recall of and whether after a remand to the lower court, another people buy into the dominant thinking of society that you Sentence Petitions Explained judgment has been rendered.” Basically, we are trying to deserve not only to be locked in a cage for your “anti- For those unfamiliar with California Penal Code 1170(d)(1), determine if the original law is still valid. social” behavior, but also to have your head bounced off the it gives the right to petition an authorized state official, such While briefing cases is time-consuming andquires re­ wall by staff out to get you. Out of the handful of standup as the CDCR Secretary, to review a currently incarcerated meticulous attention to details, it is a way of focus­ing your Free World people, there are even fewer that have the legal attention on all the essential points. By mastering briefing, person’s eligibility for resentencing in light of the following: 1. understand­ing and/ or skills to lend a hand. Thus, it comes Exceptional behavior while incarcerated; 2. New information the quality of your legal work improves, and you improve down to Prisoners helping each other out. It’s time to stop your chances of winning. that has come to light since the conviction - for example, it messing with each other or engaging in petty nonsense that is found there was an error in calculating their sentence; 3. SHEPARDIZING will only get you tossed in the hole. Once you find a real OK, we’ve found a few cases that seem to be simi­lar Circumstances have changed such that the inmate's continued ally, hang on to them and express how much you really incarceration is not in the interest of justice - for example, in fact and circumstances to your situation. But wait, my appreciate their help and advice. Send copies of everything those whose sentences are affected by changes in legislation friend; How do you know the law is still valid? You don’t. dealing with your work and ask them to hang on to it for or new case law. If the petition is successful, the current In your first walk around the library did you find a collec­ you in case something happens. sentence will be recalled and the person can be resentenced tion of books called Shepard’s Citations? If not, then go find In closing, my friend, I hope what I’ve written here to a shorter time or even time served. In no cases will the them. Shepards lists places where a particular court decision­ has helped you in some small way. It is only together sentence be longer. is cited or mentioned. Each set covers a Federal or State that we have any chance of beating the Monsters of court’s statutes, or federal regulations. “Shepardizing” a the Earth! ● AB 1812 was signed Into Law On June 27, 2018, amending case is important because it will tell you if the case that you and expanding the ability to recall sentences under Penal are researching is still valid law, or if it has been over­ruled Code 1170(d)(1). To implement the new law, Gov. Brown by a higher court, and will help you find parallel cites. GOOD NEWS instructed CDCR to receive petitions from inmates who We all know that Prison law libraries never have Finally some relief for believe they deserve a new sentence based on (1) exceptional everything they should have. By looking at the most recent­ in-prison conduct, or (2) disproportionate punishment. As of supplemental pamphlet (which should be dated no more nonviolent 3rd strikers!! August 31, 2018, more than 300 sentence recalls have been than two months earlier than the current month and year) In a major victory the second Appellate District Court on issued in 32 counties across California. you will be able to find out what the library should have. September 7, 2018 in favor of V. Edwards, who filed a Make sure all the volumes are there. habeas corpus challenging CDCr’s decision to exclude him, The “spine” of each Shepards volume will tell you a non-violent third striker, from early parole consideration Legal Assistance by Unite the People what’s inside. If you can’t find your case, you’re looking in under Prop 57. The controversial rule had disproportionately Unite the People is a nonprofit organizatiom that, among the wrong volume! The case we are Shepardizing for this sentenced mentally ill and African-American inmates to life other things, provides affordable legal services. Their example is Ort vWhite 813 F2d 318 rehearing denied 818 in prison for petty crimes. The court has ordered CDCr to pricing model is designed to help those who do not qualify F2d 871. So, we are looking for the set of Shepards which repeal that portion of section 3491, subdivision (b)(1) of title for low-income legal aid, but who also aren’t wealthy covers Federal Reporter 2d series beginning on page 318. 15 of the California Code of Regulations challenged in the enough to hire an expensive private law firm.Their legal If at this point I’ve lost you, go back to the section which proceeding, and “to make any further conforming changes team is preparing and filing resentencing petitions at a explains cites in this article. thereafter necessary to render the regulations consistent discounted cost. Contact them for a free legal consultation. this court opinion.” Governor Jerry Brown did not seek to The next thing we need to do is use the Volume Number They will help you determine the right course of action appeal the September court ruling, meaning that the 2016 813 to find the right Shepards. A typical Shepards is broken and connect you with the best attorney or legal consultant ballot measure weakening the Three Strikes Law can soon down into six columns. You will see some really bold for your case. CONSULTATION HOTLINE take effect. As many as 4,000 non-violent prisoners will be numbers which are the page numbers of the Volume listed (TOLL FREE): 888.245.9393 at the top of the page. Find 318 on the page. You know it’s eligible for release under the new regulations, which the Or write to: Unite the People the right case because directly underneath the number it says state will begin crafting in the new year. Hallelujah! Inc. ATTN: Dawn “Ort vWhite 1987”. Compare this with page 343. Page 343 The court issued the following statement in regards to its . 1040 W. Kettleman Lane #262 is the wrong case because it says, “Morris v United States”! decision: “We agree with Edwards that the Three Strikes Moving back to the correct place, the first cite listed is “s law indeterminate sentence is put aside for purposes of 818F2d871 “. If you’ve been paying attention,­ you know to determining the full term for his primary offense, which Exerpts from Board of Parole Hearings write this down and how to find it. The little letter in front is the upper term of three years. The language in section Nonviolent Offender Parole Review Process of the cite tells you what other case cit­ing your decision 32(a)(1) that excludes any alternative sentence from Information Sheet have done. The table of abbreviations (lo­cated in the front consideration is most naturally understood as a command Overview of the book) tells us that “s” means “same case”. Remember to calculate the parole eligibility date as if the Three Strikes A nonviolent offender parole review is a process in which us speaking earlier about head notes? In some cases you law alternative sentencing scheme had not existed at the the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will see smaller raised numbers which are the head note time of Edwards’ sentencing. In that circumstance, the refers certain nonviolent offenders to the board for review numbers. The case in which the head note number appears maximum term Edwards would face for the current crimes and possible release, once the inmate has served the full discusses that particular head note. of conviction is three years in state prison (Pen. Code, §18). term of his or her primary offense and has passed a public WIZARD OF OZ Edwards has long since completed that prison term, and is safety screening. Inmates are reviewed for release based on There is no magic formula about doing legal re­search. At therefore now eligible for early parole consideration.” their criminal history, a review of their institutional records, times it’s a real pain in the ass. What makes it more difficult The full text of the court decision in Re Edwards can be and after consideration of input received from the inmate, is the environment you have to work in. Your paperwork found at www.unitethepeople.org/s/B288086.PDF or send victims, victims’ families, and the district attorney’s office gets mysteriously lost, you get tossed in the hole, put on a a request plus four stamps or $2 to California Prison Focus. that prosecuted the inmate. A decision is rendered after an bus, etc. (Note CPF’s new address.) administrative review of relevant and reliable documents; no For the best results, its crucial that you develop a hearing is conducted. methodical way of approaching and performing the task of MORE GOOD NEWS The nonviolent offender parole review process was enacted research. Every jailhouse lawyer, writ writer, and para­legal I Just since the victorious decision in re. Edwards, a new by emergency regulations filed by the California Department know has their own method. Each one realizes we are telling habeas corpus petition has been granted to non-violent of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Implementation of the a true story and that our readers may eventually be a judge “third striker” Paul Grinker, with presiding judge Susan nonviolent offender parole review process was mandated or jury whom we have to convince. In order to accomplish Speer of the Los Angeles County Superior Court issuing the by the passage of Proposition 57, The Public Safety and that, the following elements must be developed to the best decision, which reads in part: Rehabilitation Act of 2016, approved by the voters in of your ability: “We consider whether Department of Corrections and November 2016. Referrals of nonviolent offenders to the Gather the facts. Rehabilitation (CDCR) regulations adopted to implement board for parole review began on July 1, 2017. Your narrative statement Article I, section 32, subdivision (a)(1) of the California The nonviolent offender parole review process replaced Your witnesses narrative statement Constitution (hereafter section 32(a)(1)) validly exclude an almost identical parole review process that had been Reading and understanding relevant prison rules and/or petitioner Paul A. Grinker (Grinker), an admittedly in place since January 2015 as a result of a federal court nonviolent “Third Strike” offender sentenced to an regulations order. Specifically, the state was mandated to implement a indeterminate term, from early parole consideration relief Look up cases parole review process for nonviolent, second-strike inmates under section 32(a)(1). The outcome here is controlled by Read and brief all cases pursuant to a federal court order in the Coleman/Plata class our opinion in In re Edwards (September 7, 2018, B288086) action lawsuit that was issued in February of 2014. As a result Shepardize ___ Cal.App.5th ___ (Edwards), published this same day. of that court order, the state implemented the nonviolent, Look up similar words (Convicts instead of Prisoners, for We grant Grinker’s petition and order early finality of our second-strike parole review process. The majority of inmates example), and repeat steps 2, 3, and 4. decision in this court. The Board of Parole Hearings shall eligible for the nonviolent offender parole review process There are a couple of things I’d like to suggest that determine whether Grinker is eligible on the merits for under Proposition 57 are the same inmates who were eligible might make your job a bit easier and keep you safe. early parole release under section 32(a) (notwithstanding for parole review under the nonviolent, second-strike parole Because your time may be limited, photocopy ev­erything Cal. Code Regs., tit. 15, subd. 3492(c)(9)) within 5 days of review process ordered by the court. starting with at least the Shepards page that deals with your the date this opinion is final. If determined to be eligible, Inmates who are Eligible for Nonviolent Offender Parole legal issue. Make notes (on the photocopy) of the issue Grinker shall be released forthwith…” Review you’re researching, and the original case cite that brought As explained in an article by Unite the People (www. Inmates sentenced to a determinate or fixed term of you to this page. Next, circle the page number you are using. unitethepeople.org) this is exciting news for many reasons. imprisonment are eligible for the nonviolent parole review Keep the list with you. As you look up each case, check it First, it means that Edwards is now established case law in process. The inmate must have completed the full term of his off. This will help you keep track of your progress and you California and can be referenced in any case dealing with or her primary offense, which is the single crime for which a can also hand the list to someone else who may be helping the release of nonviolent third strikers under Prop 57 rules. court imposed the longest term of imprisonment. Additionally, you. The success of Edwards as precedent in the Grinker case the inmate must not be serving a term of incarceration for Consider starting a case file. Everything you pho­tocopy, means nonviolent third strikers can now seek relief under a violent felony as defined in Penal Code section 667.5, notes you write, publications you receive (like my favorite Prop 57, which was previously blocked by heavy handed, subdivision (c). Inmates who are required to register as a Prison Legal News) should be categorized and kept. You and pro-incarceration CDCR rules. Second, it means that writs sexual offender under Penal Code section 290 are also not

20 PRISON FOCUS eligible for the nonviolent offender parole review process. If a person has accepted a plea deal to a non-murder charge, Inmates convicted of nonviolent offenses will be screened SENATE BILL 1437 i.e. voluntary manslaughter, but fits all other criteria of the bill, for eligibility for the nonviolent offender parole review The following material was posted on the website of are they eligible for relief? process by the California Department of Corrections and Re:store Justice, an organization that advocates for criminal The first sentence of 1170.95 provides for resentencing for Rehabilitation. Once an inmate is determined to be eligible justice and prison reform in California (https://restorecal.org/) those who were convicted of murder -- whether by trial or for the process, the department will determine when the plea -- not of a lesser charge. However, we encourage you to FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS inmate will have served the full term of his or her primary consult with an attorney to see if there are other ways in which offense. This date is called the inmate’s nonviolent parole We are not a law firm and cannot answer questions about the plea could be challenged. eligible date (NPED). Inmates who are screened will be individual cases. These FAQs are meant to provide general provided written notice from the California Department of information. SB 1437 does provide for the appointment of counsel for The SB 1437: GUIDE TO RESENTENCING Corrections and Rehabilitation of their eligibility and their This guide was created by Re:store Justice is meant to help those who submit a petition asserting their eligibility for nonviolent parole eligible date. Eligibility determinations you determine if you are eligible to petition for resentencing relief. Please consult with your counsel on your case. are subject to appeal by an inmate through the department’s under SB 1437. If you determine that SB 1437 does apply Petitions inmate appeals process... to your case, this guide offers in-depth explanations and When does SB 1437 go into effect since Governor Brown At least 35 days before an inmate’s nonviolent parole information to determine which sections do or do not apply. signed it? eligible date, his or her institutional record will be The guide is an attempt to explain this new law so that you can January 2, 2019, is the first day petitions can be submitted. electronically screened to determine if he or she meets fill out Re:store Justice’s self-generated petition accurately (January 1, 2019, is a court holiday.) certain public safety screening criteria... If an inmate meets and truthfully to the best of your ability. (Re:store Justice is What is the petition and where can I get it? the public safety screening criteria, he or she will be referred currently working on a Spanish version of the SB 1437.) Re:store Justice has prepared a form petition for use by to the board for parole review and possible release. If an In addition to the SB 1437 Guide to Resentencing, Re:store persons who are eligible for relief from murder convictions Justice has generated their own SB 1437 Petition to facilitate inmate does not meet the public safety screening criteria, under SB 1437. The purpose of this form is to initiate the process. They have a Spanish version as well. (Although the inmate will be screened again one year from the date of proceedings in the Superior Court in which a person was the petition in Spanish can not be filed in court, it can use it to his or her last public safety screening. sentenced and cause that court to appoint an attorney to assist in filling out the English language petition. Again, from Inmates who are electronically screened will be provided represent them in the re-sentencing process. It is also designed our current understanding, ONLY THE ENGLISH VERSION written notice of the outcome of the screening by the to screen out defendants who are ineligible for relief. will be accepted by the courts. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. This form is not required to be used. The Judicial Council of Referral decisions are subject to appeal by an inmate the State of California may also prepare and make available a Legal Representation: Re:store Justice believes that all incarcerated people through the department’s inmate appeals process. form petition for resentencing under SB 1437. Attorneys may should be afforded a meaningful opportunity for parole and Inmates who are referred to the board will be provided a prepare petitions that are not a form. this opportunity should begin the moment an offender enters [copy of this ] written explanation of the board’s nonviolent The Re:store Justice petition is available online at https:// prison. This is a valued belief based in public consensus: offender parole review process, including notification that restorecal.org/sb1437/. the California Legislature recently found and declared, “the they have an opportunity to submit a written statement for We are requiring people to send us their email address purpose of sentencing is public safety achieved through the board’s consideration when determining whether the when they get the petition for the simple reason that since we punishment, rehabilitation, and restorative justice.” (Penal inmate should be released. Written statements should be first posted it, we’ve made changes and alterations and we Code section 1170(a)). submitted to the board by the inmate within 30 days of the have been able to email people directly with updates. When To support our state’s new mission and help people attain date the inmate is referred to the board. the instruction book on re-sentencing is available, we are able the freedom for which they work hard for, Re:store Justice For more information on: 'When Eligible Nonviolent to email people directly. has partnered with the University of San Francisco School of Offenders will be referred to the Board of Parole Hearings What is the purpose of the petition? Law Criminal and Juvenile Justice and Racial Justice Clinic to for Review', 'What to Expect after an Inmate is Referred to The purpose of the petition is to show the courts that represent individuals at their parole hearings, without charge. the Board of Parole Hearings', and other information about a person is eligible for resentencing under the bill. The If in need of an attorney for representation at an upcoming the parole review process write or call the board at: petitioner may also request counsel at this time. parole hearing, please call or write us to request an intake Board of Parole Hearings Should I get an attorney? form, or simply send a letter which includes the following Post Office Box 4036 Upon the submission of the petition, the petitioner will information: Name, CDCR #, Age at time of crime, Sacramento, CA 95812-4036 have the opportunity to request counsel. Convictions, Parole eligibility date, Current prison, Plus any Phone: 916-445-4072 How does an incarcerated person get help with this petition? more details that might be helpful. We’ll be creating an instruction booklet and holding Please note that there is a high demand. * Those with Non-Violent Early Parole trainings inside of prisons soon, as well as trainings on the Consideration Don't Get a “Full” Hearing outside. OAKLAND: LOS ANGELES: Hello, Though it appears that we 3-Strikers have won Re:store Justice Re:store Justice Can you review my petition for accuracy? P.O. Box 22096 out on CDCr’s insidious designs to keep us corralled 777 S Alameda Street, 2nd Floor We are not a law firm and cannot answer questions about Oakland, CA 94623 Los Angeles, CA 90021 despite the California Voters wishes that we be set free, individual cases. We hope that the instruction booklet that Phone: 415-735-3035 Phone: 213-988-8890 the struggle is not over. In re Edwards (2018) 237 Cal. we are creating will be helpful. If a case is not yet final (i.e Raptr. 3d 673 as is the case for now, only provides for non- if a person is still in the Superior Court or on appeal), please violent Three-Strike prisoners to be entitled to an early consult your attorney. La lay SB 1437: GUÍA PARA NUEVA CONDENA parole consideration hearing. The Attorney General in my Where can I find updates or more information about the creada por Re: store Justice sirve para ayudarle a determinar case has asked the Court of Appeal to hold my petition in petition process? si reúne los requisitos necesarios establecidos por la ley Abeyance on that issue, but I have filed a motion for the You can join our Facebook Advocacy Group at https:// SB 1437, para solicitar una nueva condena. Si cree que la Appellate Court to resume proceedings on my petition for www.facebook.com/groups/restoreadvocates and/or email ley SB 1437 se puede aplicar en su causa, esta guía ofrece Writ of Habeas Corpus addressing the related issue of the [email protected] to be added to a listserve specifically explicaciones detalladas e información para determinar qué Parole Suitability process itself. As it stands now, CDCR’s for petition updates. artículos corresponden o no corresponden a su causa. La Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) does not allow non- Eligibility guía es un intento de explicar esta nueva ley para que pueda violent early parole consideration inmates a “Full” hearing. Please note: Being “eligible” to file a resentencing petition completar la petición por motivación propia, con la mayor Inmates under Proposition 57 are required to submit a letter is not the same as being entitled to a favorable outcome. It is precisión posible. (Re: store Justice está trabajando en la to the BPH explaining why they are entitled to parole. This just the first step toward asking for relief. traducción al español de la ley SB 1437.) process is in blatant violation of our Constitutional Due Who is eligible for resentencing under SB 1437? Además de la Guía Para Nueva Condena de la ley SB 1437, Process Rights under both Federal and State law. Parole Those who were convicted under the first degree felony Re: store Justice ha creado su propia Petición SB 1437 para constitutes a “Liberty Interest” under the Fourteenth murder rule if they did not kill; did not intend to kill; And facilitar el proceso. También tienen una versión en español. Amendment. California prisoners are entitled to be present did not act as a major participant in the felony with reckless (Aunque la petición en español no se puede presentar en el at a Parole Suitability hearing with council and to ask indifference to human life. tribunal, puede usarse para ayudar a completar la petición and answer questions, and present evidence. In re Prewitt Those who were convicted as an accomplice to a “target” en inglés. Según tenemos entendido, los tribunales SÓLO (1972) 8 Cal. 3d 470; Gee vs. Brown (1975) 14 Cal. 3d 571; crime under the second degree natural and probable ACEPTARÁN LA VERSIÓN EN INGLÉS. In re Johnson (1995) 35 Cal. App 4th 60; See also Cal. Code consequences doctrine and who did not kill or act with malice Representación Legal: Reg Title 15 Sec. 2450-2472, 2690-2701; 2467(b), and Cal. in the killing. Re: store Justice cree que a todas las personas encarceladas Penal Code Sec. 3041.5. Those who were convicted of second degree felony murder. deben contar con una oportunidad verdadera para obtener It would not be surprising that CDCr, in amending its Does SB 1437 provide relief for those serving life without libertad condicional y esta oportunidad debe comenzar en el regulations for non-violent early parole in the next few the possibility of parole (LWOP)? momento en que cualquier delincuente ingrese a la prisión. months, will leave this portion of their erroneous rules Yes, in some circumstances. People v. Banks (2015) 61 Creemos en esta oportunidad válida basada en el consenso untouched and force prisoners to engage in another two Cal. 4th 788 and People v. Clark (2016) 63 Cal. 4th 522 and público: la Legislatura de California determinó y declaró years worth of litigation to repeal what they already cases that came after that limited who is a “major participant” recientemente, "el propósito de la condena es la seguridad know is illegal. That said, we must not wait. Respectfully, and who acted with “reckless indifference to human life.” A pública lograda mediante el castigo, la rehabilitación y la Anonymous later case said that those who had LWOP based on Penal justicia reparadora" (Código Penal, artículo 1170 (a)). Code Section 190.2(d) could file writs of habeas corpus for Para respaldar la nueva misión del estado de California AND STILL MORE (slightly dated) GOOD NEWS! relief under Banks/Clark and have the opportunity to remove The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled on y ayudar a obtener la libertad a aquellos que tanto luchan the Penal Code 190.2(d) special circumstance. This would por alcanzarla, Re: store Justice se asoció con la Clínica de January 29, 2018 that California’s carjacking law, Penal mean the LWOP sentence would become 25 years to life. Code 215(a) no longer constitutes a crime of violence Justicia Penal y Juvenil de la Universidad de San Francisco SB 1437 has a provision that says “If there was a prior para representar a individuos en audiencias de libertad under 8 U.S.C. 1101 (a)(43)(F) in light of the U.S. Supreme finding by a court or jury that the petitioner did notact Court’s decision in Johnson v. United States, 559 U.S. 133 condicional de forma gratuita. with reckless indifference to human life or was not a major Si necesita un abogado para que lo represente en una (2010). (For more information about this case see Prison participant in the felony, the court shall vacate the petitioner’s Legal News, July 2018, pg. 23) audiencia de libertad condicional, llámenos o escríbanos para conviction and resentence the petitioner.” solicitar un formulario de admisión, o simplemente envíe Economic Monster Banks relief is one kind of a “prior finding.” Thus, a person una carta que incluya la siguiente información: nombre, “Our legal system* is...about keeping the prisons full to who has received a favorable determination on his or her número de CDCR, edad en el momento del delito imputado, ensure sustaining employment for one of the largest economic Banks petition could now petition the court for resentencing información sobre su condena y condenas anteriores, fecha monsters in California....[It] has lost sight of the true under SB 1437. de elegibilidad de libertad condicional, nombre de la prisión definition and meaning of the simple concept of corrections Using this case law, you and your counsel may want to actual. Incluya también cualquier otro detalle adicional que and rehabilitation, unfortunately. Keepin’ it Real” discuss if the evidence in your case would support filing a le parezca útil. Tenga en cuenta que hay gran demanda. Banks petition. ISSUE 57 21 Agreement to Prop 57 Access to Programming Seeking Your Thoughts on * Initiate justice is currently requesting feedback by individuals Prison Abolition End Hostilities having a hard time accessing program since prop 57 passed, in order to Dear Friend, We are university professors August 12, 2012 advocate for better access to programs in the future. If you are having (Michael at the Chico State University of o whom it may concern and all CA Prisoners: trouble participating in programs where you are, please write Initiate California, USA, and David at The Open Greetings from the entire PBSP-SHU Short Justice and let them know what the issues are. that everyone who University, in England), and are putting together a book with lots of chapters on the Corridor Hunger Strike Representatives. We are wants to participate in her time of there sentence has the opportunity to T abolition of prisons and the penal system in hereby presenting this mutual agreement on behalf of all do so. Send feedback to: Initiate justice general. The book is titled, The Routledge racial groups here in the PBSP-SHU Corridor. Wherein, . PO Box 5521 we have arrived at a mutual agreement concerning the International Handbook of Penal Abolitionism, South San Francisco, California 94083 and is already contracted for publication. following points: The book will include chapters from people ●● If we really want to bring about substantive meaningful all around the world and think that it is really changes to the CDCR system in a manner beneficial ATTENTION! important that it also includes abolition thoughts to all solid individuals, who have never been broken Information Needed from people who have lived and/or are living by CDCR’s torture tactics intended to coerce one to through the daily realities of imprisonment. become a state informant via debriefing, that now is The Prison Law Office (PLO) is aware of the Non-Designated We would be delighted if you would consider the time to for us to collectively seize this moment and Designated Yard Moves - they are looking into what is writing an account (anywhere between 1,500 in time, and put an end to more than 20-30 years of happening. to 5,000 words) about why you think we hostilities between our racial groups. Families and prisoners are very concerned about the safety of should abolish the use of imprisonment and/or ●● Therefore, beginning on October 10, 2012, all their loved ones. the penal system in general. We have already hostilities between our racial groups… in SHU, PLO asks for prisoners and their families to send them the received essays from academics and activists Ad-Seg, General Population, and County Jails, will detailed information as to what is happening. Especially if you in the abolition social movement. What we are officially cease. This means that from this date on, or your loved one was injured as a result of a forced move. looking for from you, is an abolition essay from all racial group hostilities need to be at an end… and The PLO is a very small organization with limited resources, the perspective of someone on the inside. Write if personal issues arise between individuals, people and they do not have the means to do extensive research. What from what you know. need to do all they can to exhaust all diplomatic you send them must be clear and detailed. Prisoners should send If you do not have access to a computer or means to settle such disputes; do not allow personal, their letters via LEGAL MAIL to: Prison Law Office General a typewriter to write such an essay, you could individual issues to escalate into racial group issues!! Delivery San Quentin, CA 94964 send us your essay as a letter, or as part of a ●● We also want to warn those in the General Population telephone (510) 280-2621 www.prisonlaw.com letter. We could then turn the letter into a typed that IGI will continue to plant undercover Sensitive Family members/loved ones can send a detailed email showing document and send it to you for any edits or Needs Yard (SNY) debriefer “inmates” amongst "Non-designated and Designated Yard Issue" in the subject revisions you would like to make. the solid GP prisoners with orders from IGI to be line, to [email protected] Your essay would be of great help for informers, snitches, rats, and obstructionists, in order students, anti-prison and abolition activists, and to attempt to disrupt and undermine our collective all who read the book. We very much hope that groups’ mutual understanding on issues intended for THE FAMILY VISITING PROCESS this is something that interests you. our mutual causes [i.e., forcing CDCR to open up A message from the Life Support Alliance: Write the essay and send it as soon as you all GP main lines, and return to a rehabilitative-type If you are struggling with approval for family visits, your first step can, and certainly by February 1, 2019, so that system of meaningful programs/privileges, including should be to contact the Ombudsman for your prison and report the we have some time for revisions and back and lifer conjugal visits, etc. via peaceful protest activity/ problem. When you do, be sure to send a copy to Sara Malone, the Chief forth if needed. All the very best, Michael and noncooperation e.g., hunger strike, no labor, etc. Ombudsman at 1515 S Street, Sacramento, CA 95811 etc.]. People need to be aware and vigilant to such David. Please send your essay to: CDCR, through the Ombudsman’s office, is tracking the length of time Editors, The Routledge International Handbook tactics, and refuse to allow such IGI inmate snitches it takes individual prisons to approve family visiting applications and of Penal Abolitionism to create chaos and reignite hostilities amongst how many are denied and for what reason. We’re also taking names of CARE OF: Professor Michael J. Coyle our racial groups. We can no longer play into IGI, counselors and institutions that seem to be especially difficult in this area. Department of Political Science and Criminal ISU, OCS, and SSU’s old manipulative divide and Justice But please do your part by contacting the Ombudsman first. conquer tactics!!! California State University, Chico In conclusion, we must all hold strong to our mutual Many inmates are currently denied due to the current guidelines that 400 West 1st Street agreement from this point on and focus our time, preclude those with past issue, contraband or minor Chico, CA, 95926-0455 attention, and energy on mutual causes beneficial to all victims from family visits. New guidelines are expected by mid-late P.S. We would like to refund your postage costs for participating in this project. If the regulations at of us [i.e., prisoners], and our best interests. We can no summer and we hope to see some of these exclusions modified to allow your prison allow us to do so, kindly let us know longer allow CDCR to use us against each other for their more lifers and LWOP inmates to enjoy the reunification that family visits benefit!! Because the reality is that collectively, we are an bring. If you are initially screened out, reapply after the new guidelines are released. empowered, mighty force, that can positively change this The Bureau of Justice Statistics found that about entire corrupt system into a system that actually benefits Remember, these are FAMILY visits, not just conjugal visits. The purpose is to promote family unity, rehabilitation and ease transition once half of the sexual assaults reported from with prisoners, and thereby, the public as a whole… and we American prisons were from corrections staff. simply cannot allow CDCR/CCPOA – Prison Guard’s an inmate is released on parole. The guidelines are for immediate family, In 2012, in accordance with the Prison Union, IGI, ISU, OCS, and SSU, to continue to get away though step-parents and step-children are included. You must be legally Rape Elimination Act (PREA), the Justice with their constant form of progressive oppression and married or a registered domestic partner. If you were married after the Department issued its first set of national warehousing of tens of thousands of prisoners, including prisoner was incarcerated, that counts, but registered domestic partners standards requiring that detention facilities not the 14,000 (+) plus prisoners held in solitary confinement must have established that registration prior to incarceration. only give inmates multiple ways to report sexual torture chambers [i.e. SHU/Ad-Seg Units], for decades!!! Wait times for visits may be long, depending on the prison, how many abuse but also investigate every allegation. We send our love and respects to all those of like mind family visiting units are available and how many families are in line. You Facilities shall provide inmates with access to and heart… onward in struggle and solidarity. ● can help by joining us in lobbying your state legislators to provide more funds to rehabilitate, reclaim and construct more family visiting units—be outside victim advocates for emotional support Presented by the PBSP-SHU Short Corridor Collective: sure to stress the rehabilitative factors of family visits! services related to …[and] shall Todd Ashker, C58191, Arturo Castellanos, C17275, Life Support Alliance enable reasonable communication between Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa (Dewberry), C35671, Antonio P.O. Box 277 inmates and these organizations and agencies, For more details on Visiting a Guillen, P81948, And the Representatives Body: Danny Rancho Cordova, CA 95741 in as confidential a manner as possible. Troxell, B76578, George Franco, D46556, Ronnie Friend or Loved One in Prison visit PREA Hotline: 800-586-9431 Yandell, V27927, Paul Redd, B72683, James Baridi http://tinyurl.com/prisonvisits. "The future belongs to Williamson, D-34288. Alfred Sandoval, D61000, Louis Other things to do if your visiting those who prepare for it (Prison Law Office also has an informaiton Powell, B59864, Alex Yrigollen, H32421, Gabriel Huerta, rights are violated: ● Ask to speak today." Malcom X sheet regarding sexual abuse.) C80766, Frank Clement, D07919, Raymond Chavo to the Watch Commander and ask Perez, K12922, James Mario Perez, B48186, if they can override the officer's [NOTE: All names and the statement must be verbatim decision. ● Contact your Inmate By Roy Houseman when used and posted on any website or media Family Council which may be publications.] able to help you advocate for your rights at www.statewide-ifc.com You can also download or request HAVE YOU ALREADY GONE from Legal Service for Prisoners BEFORE THE PAROLE BOARD With Children, their Fighting For Our Rights: A Toolbox For SINCE YOU CAME OUT OF SHU? Family Advocates Of California The PHSS Parole Committee would welcome Prisoners manual which outlines reading your parole hearing transcript and some basic tools that families of California state prisoners Comprehensive Risk Assessment (CRA). The can use to fight for the rights Committee can obtain the hearing transcript if you of loved ones inside, and gives provide your name, CDCR# and date of hearing. information on specific issues Please send this information and/or your CRA to: you may need to advocate about. PHSS PAROLE COMMITTEE, P.O. Box 5586, Also included is an insert on Lancaster, CA 93539. The Committee will use Requesting Resentencing Under and possibly share this information to advocate for Three Strikes Reform. https:// changes in the parole process, but will otherwise www.prisonerswithchildren. keep the material anonymous. org/resource-library/family- matters/

22 PRISON FOCUS Liberate the caged voices More News ● Anerae Brown, a 44-year-old rapper from Sacramento, Calif., whose lyrics were used to convict him for a crime for which Hello he maintains his innocence was finally granted parole in September after 26 years behind bars. He produced dozens of albums brothers and while in prison. sisters! ● Mike Africa Sr has become the second member of the Philadelphia-based group of black radicals known as the Move 9 to It is my be released from prison, 40 years after they were arrested for the death of a police officer in one of the most dramatic shootouts pleasure to be of the black liberation era. Africa was recently paroled from a Pennsylvania prison to be reunited with his wife, Debbie Africa, able to connect who was just released this last Summer. Mike and Debbie were convicted together along with seven other freedom fighters. with all of They have reunited with their son, Mike Africa Jr. who was born in Debbie’s and taken away three days later. Two you again. of the original MOVE 9 have died in prison and the remaining five are still behind bars. Our beloved ● On October 9, US Supreme Court announced that they will not hear the cases of three Colorado inmates who newspaper argue that holding them in solitary confinement, without any access to the outdoors or concerns about security, violates the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Prison officials argued that they could not be sued because it was not provides this clearly established – the standard to overcome the general presumption that government officials are immune from lawsuits essential – that their solitary-confinement policy was unconstitutional. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit agreed. Though opportunity both Justice Stephen Breyer and Justice Sonia Sotomayor expressed serious concern about the use of solitary confinement, to share and there were apparently not four votes to take up the issue at this time. dialogue. I’d As far back as 1890, this Court expressed concerns about the mental anguish caused by solitary confinement. (See In re like to share a bit about the ongoing campaign Liberate Medley, 134 U. S. 160, 168 (1890) ): The Caged Voices- and what it means to me. I’m hoping “Experience demonstrated that there were serious objections to it. A considerable number of the prisoners fell, after to also open a dialogue regarding this campaign to find even a short confinement, into a semi-fatuous condition, from which it was next to impossible to arouse them, and others out what you feel about it, hear your input on how you see became violently insane; others, still, committed suicide, while those who stood the ordeal better were not generally it developing, you know, give constructive and reformed, and in most cases did not recover sufficient mental activity to be of any subsequent service to the community.” share your ideas. ● Davis v. Baldwin: Solitary Confinement So here’s where I stand. I’m an Abolitionist. Slavery was In June 2015, the Uptown People's Law Center brought a case against the Illinois Department of Corrections on behalf of never abolished due to the the slavery exception clause of six prisoners who were facing, or had faced, extreme isolation in Illinois prisons. In March 2017, the federal district court ruled the 13th Amendment, which states: that prisoners had alleged sufficient facts to prove that the extreme isolation prisoner are subjected to in solitary confinement Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, violates the prohibition against "cruel and unusual punishment" of the Eight Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The court except as punishment for a crime whereof the party shall also ruled that the conditions in these units, as described by our clients, were so bad that prisoners could not be transferred to have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United solitary confinement without a hearing, and that Illinois violated prisoners' constitutional right to due process by holding what States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. the prisoners described as "sham hearings." That word EXCEPT states very clearly that you, having ● In September a lawsuit alleging the Ontario government violated the human rights of people by placing them inappropriately been (duly) convicted of a crime are now a slave of the in solitary confinement can proceed as a class action, a Superior Court judge has ruled. The suit includes imprisoned people state. Let’s also be clear that duly does not mean justly or who are diagnosed with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or psychosis who served time in segregation in provincial rightly! So, unless any of you have a big problem with me facilities since Jan. 1, 2009. Other inmates put in the “hole” for 15 days or longer since that time are also included in the class. informing people that you are, in fact enslaved, that is how ● On October 29th this world has lost a great warrior, by the name of Dennis I call it. And this is, as it “was”, a crime against humanity Banks "Nowa Cumig". Ojibwe was a Native American activist, teacher, and and I feel is, the human rights crisis of our time. author. He was a longtime leader of the American Indian Movement, which he The Liberate The Caged Voices campaign is designed co-founded in Minnesota in 1968 to represent urban Indians.(More on Nowa to bring your voices forward into the community to Cumig and AIM in PF Issue 58.) shift the narrative on who you are, expose legal slavery ◄ Move 9 prisoner Mike taking place within our prisons and inform the ideas and Africa Sr and solutions needed to transform the PISC. I’d be good with his wife Debbie tearing it all down and starting over with restorative and Africa reunited in Philadelphia transformative justice. I/We believe in your humanity and after 40 years feel it’s the responsibility of all community members to be in prison. informed, as well as bare the burden of the human rights Photograph: abuses taking place inside the gulags of California - and Tommy Oliver/@ producertommy throughout the nation, and come together in support of the steps necessary to stop it. Free Resources from Prison Law Office: Liberate the Caged Voices celebrated its 4th gathering ● Penal Code § 1170(d)(1) CDCR Resentencing Recommendations (AB 1812) in an ongoing series. We bring to the stage your letters, September 2018 commentary and poetry, and invite the participating ● New Laws on Sentence Enhancements October 2018 audience to read. It’s intended to be interactive, educational ● Nueva Legislación sobre Incremento Penal sobre Armas y Drogas. ▲ National Prison Strike Participating States and transformative. The experience has so far been moving (Proyecto de Ley del Senado 620, Proyecto de Ley del Senado 180) Octobre 2018 September 2018 to say the least. People have been brought to tears, shared ● New Laws on Felony Murder and “Natural and Probable Consequences” their stories of enslavement/incarceration and/or been Murder (SB 1437) October 2018 moved to take action. Offering and encouraging action is ● Non-Designated Programming Buildings and Yards September 2018 National Alliance on one of the main components of the campaign and takes ● Proposition 57: CDCR’s New Credit and Early Parole Regulations October Mental Illness (NAMI) many forms. It could be signing a petition, making a 2018 NAMI states that their donation to the paper, writing to one of you, volunteering at ● Improper or Unlawful Use of Force by CDCR Staff (June 2017) - (To Helpline responds to more CPF, soliciting our legislatures, etc. In order to enhance the understand the laws and rules regarding the use of force, and what you might be calls from worried families emotional accessibility we often bring live and/or recorded able to do about violations of those laws and rules) about a loved one in jail music to the program and seek to always have one or more Send requests, Legal/Confidential to: speakers with lived experience of modern-day slavery, as than any other issue. NAMI Prison Law Office at General Delivery, San Quentin, CA 94964-0001 practiced through the prison system - including family and provides resources and community members with loved ones inside. See Prison Focus Issue 56 for a list of other Prison Law Office resources. referrals to legal services. With that said, I’d like to turn to the prisoner-led National (Algunos recursos de la PLO también están disponibles en español, pero no todos.) NAMI Prison Strike. It “ended” - but rebellion and protest are 803 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 100 ongoing all over the country because, I don’t have to tell Arlington, VA 22203 you, little, if anything, has changed. The first of the 10 Do you have a parole Phone: 800-950-NAMI Demands is: Immediate improvements to the conditions of hearing coming up? By Roy Houseman prisons and prison policies that recognize the humanity of For Individuals Seeking Legal imprisoned men and women. If you are preparing for a parole hearing Representation at Parole Hearings: This is counter to the slave narrative legalized by the you may be interested in Prison Focus’ ● Attorney Diane T. Letarte, MBA, LLM constitution and imposed by the guards and police state. Special Parole Edition, Issue 54. This special M.S. Forensic Psychology Yet, exactly where we stand in solidarity with you! issue provides invaluable information and Parole Hearings and Appeals. Through Liberate the Caged Voices we will continue to resources, including the items listed below, 1080 Park Blvd., Suite 1008 amplify your voices and keep these, and other demands, as part of the dialogue in the political and social sphere. and more. You can request a copy from CPF. San Diego, CA 92101 You are the leaders in this struggle. We will continue to Single issues are $2 each, or support CPF with 619-233-3688 follow your lead in our efforts to inform and educate the an $8 donation to receive a full subscription. ● Debbie M. Page, Attorney at Law public about the reality of modern day enslavement, it’s (4 issues). 2892 N. Bellflower Blvd., Ste. 402 human and financial cost and the real damage it is causing ●● Rethinking Parole for Long-Term SHU Long Beach, CA 90815 you, your families, our communities and the world. Please Prisoners. (Transcript from PHSS Parole Committee- 592-292-6785 continue to talk to us, share with us, educate us! Your sponsored Parole After SHU seminar in March 2017) ● UnCommon Law provides many excellent voices will be uncaged and heard! ●● Advice for Prisoners and their Supporters Regarding resources (See Prison Focus Issue 54) as well In peace and solidarity, Nube Board of Parole Hearings' Psychological Evaluations parole hearing representation pro bono or (PHSS Parole Committee). at reduced rates for lifers and their families. Message to our outside readers: ●● California Lifer Parole Process (Life Support Alliance) Uncommon Law also challenges decisions by the Join CPF at one of our monthly Liberate The Caged ●● How to Prepare for Parole Consideration (Uncommon Board and the Governor in court.. Voices gatherings..Check out CPF's calendar of Law) 220 4th St #103, Oakland, CA 94607 events on our website at www.prisons.org. ●● Guide to Lifer Support Letters (Uncommon Law) Phone: (510) 271-0310

ISSUE 57 23 4408 MARKET St., Ste. A Oakland, CA 94608

California Prison Focus is a grassroots organization working to end mass incarceration & all forms of modern day slavery.

4408 Market St., Ste. A Oakland, CA 94608

PRISON FOCUS #58 Subscriptions ABOUT CPF Submissions Welcomed ubscribe to Prison Focus and receive four Prison Focus welcomes articles, opinion columns, Prison Focus is a publication of California issues (published approximately every 3.5 news reports, poetry, photos, cartoons and other Prison Focus. We are a small, community-based months) organization that works with and on behalf of S artwork. $20 for non-prisoners, $8 for prisoners and Submissions are not guaranteed to be published, nor California prisoners. We investigate and expose free to men and women in California SHU and will they be returned. We generally cannot respond human rights abuses within California prisons, Adminstrative Segregation. to individual submissions because of the volume of through written correspondence and widespread In an effort to expand our readership, we are mail we receive. dissemination of our prison reports. We provide currently offering 1 free issue for women and Suggestions for general submissions: incarcerated men, women and the LGBTQ LGTBQ prisoners. ●● .Letters or articles (250-500 words) population, with resources on how to advocate Help us keep our records current. Let us ●● .Larger articles are accepted though inclusion for themselves. We provide our newsletter free of know if your address changes. Individuals in Send contributions to cost to individuals in solitary confinement. Central Ad. Seg. will only receive one issue, unless we California Prison Focus, Editors to our work is training ourselves, prisoners and receive notification between issues, that you 4408 Market St., Ste. A their loved ones in self-advocacy through public have not moved. Oakland, CA 94607 protest, networking, coalition building, letter- We rely entirely on donations in order to keep the Submissions for Issue should be sent in by March 1st. writing and civic involvement. We act in solidarity paper free for those who are not able to contribute with our brothers and sisters both inside and in dollars and cents. Every stamp counts. NOTICE OF CONFIDENTIALITY outside of America's prison walls, with a focus on California Prison Focus treats all incoming mail as getting out the voices that are seldom heard. confidential. We respect your privacy and understand Donations that there are risks for you involved. Therefore we will keep what you tell us anonymous unless you Thank you to all of those who have given their time give us permission to use your name. Unless you and money to make this issue possible. We would like direct us otherwise, we will share what you tell us to send a special thank you to RESIST, a grassroots anonymously in order to educate the public about foundation that supports small organizations such as prison conditions and to support our advocacy California Prison Focus. Thank you also to all of our individual donors, from both efforts. We rely on you to tell us if you want usto inside and outside the prison walls. treat your information differently (for example, to use The number one obstacle to printing this newspaper it with your name, to not share it with anyone, or for more often is lack of funds. Thank you for your our Liberate the Caged Voices events, but not for the continued support! paper.) Prison focus contributions Important Note to our readers inside: please be aware that unfortunately CPF does not currently For those who are not able to contribute monitarily have a sponsoring attorney. DO NOT send By Jack Friend (and even those of you that can) Sharing your art confidential mail or it may be opened by CDCr staff. and stories is a great way you can contribute to United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for We will let you know if and when that changes. CPF's awareness building and fundraising efforts. the Treatment of Prisoners NOTE: Despite wanting to expand our readership, (Renamed The Nelson Mandela Rules) Permission is granted to reprint original articles from California Prison Focus does not have the capacity Rule 97: 1. Prison labour must not be of an afflictive Prison Focus as long as credit is noted to Prison to receive and process lengthy reports that are not nature. 2. Prisoners shall not be held in slavery or Focus and California Prison Focus. Also, please related to the use of solitary confinement and relevant servitude. 3. No prisoner shall be required to work for send us a copy of the publication in which the article issues in California. the personal or private benefit of any prison staff. appears.

NOTE CPF's NEW ADDRESS!! 4408 Market St., Ste. A, Oakland, CA 94607 www.prisons.org